272 



from the center of which rises a small 

 point pierced with a pore at its sum- 

 mit ; and at certain times the cavity is 

 more or less filled with fluid. This is 

 the nectar which attracts bees to the 

 plant. 



Figure 10 represents a section of one 

 of the knobs (g fig. 1) perpendicular to 

 its surface and passing through the 

 middle of one of the cavities just de- 

 scribed. At a is the opening or pore, 

 lined for a short distance by a prolong- 

 ation of the epidermis or skin (1) which 

 covers the surface of the entire organ. 

 Beneath the surface the tissues are con- 

 siderably differentiated. A dense hollow 

 cone, made up of elongated cells, with 

 very granular contents (g), runs up to 

 the bottom of the pore d, and forms the 

 secreting part of the organ— the gland 



•6 



Fig. 10. 



proper. Between this and the epider- 

 mis, and separated from the former by 

 a thin layer of elongated, obliquely set 

 cells, is a mass (a) of rounded cells, with 

 slightly granular contents, and in the 

 center of the cone formed by g' is a tis- 

 sue composed of rounded cells, which 

 contain a considerable amount of starch 

 in the form of very hue grains. At some 

 little distance below the surface the tis- 

 sue g' thins out and a and b come to- 

 gether so that more or less starch is to 

 be found in the former, and it is difficult 

 to define their respective limits, while 

 intermingled with their cells are a con- 

 siderable number of spiral and dotted 

 cells passing off into the vascular tissue 

 of the peduncle. 



In all the cases we have hitherto con- 

 sidered, the secreting part of the gland 

 has been on the surface— a modification 

 of the epidermis ; but here a deep tis- 

 sue takes on the same function, dis- 

 charging its secretion through a pore 

 (formed by a break in the epidermal 



covering) into a shallow cup, whence it 

 is readily collected by the bees or other 

 insects which are attracted by it. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Queens Duplicating Themselves. 



D. A. PIKE. 



The May number of the American 

 Bee Journal contains an article from 

 Mr. A. F. Moon in reply to my accep- 

 tance of the proposition made by him 

 in the September number. 



The answers to my questions are so 

 obscure, that it seems to me that Mr. 

 Moon must have been laboring under 

 some mental difficulty — perhaps the 

 moon was changing. 



The proposition seemed fair; I ac- 

 cepted it in good faith, and now I am 

 making my arrangements to fulfill my 

 part of the contract. 



As he promises to bear the expense 

 of the committee and to pay $25 for each 

 of the purely mated queens, I wish to 

 have some assurance that he will fulfill 

 his part of the contract, and in some 

 way secure me of my reward. 



I claim that I should have the privi- 

 lege of choosing at least one of the 

 judges. The time for testing it is near, 

 and I hope that nothing may occur to 

 mar the pleasure of the occasion. 



Smithsburg, Md. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Apis Dorsata of Java, etc. 



E. PARMLY. 



I noticed lately in one of our dailies 

 a statement that "all the European 

 bees taken to the island of Java had 

 perished; that the Italian bee showed 

 the greatest vitality, and was the last to 

 succumb." Do not the foreign bee jour- 

 nals give the cause or eauses of this 

 loss? 



Any one who wants better reading 

 than the Bee Journal for May must 

 be very hard to satisfy. 



It looks as if Messrs. Jones and Ben- 

 ton are likely to succeed in doing good 

 missionary work in Cyprus. Supersti- 

 tion must vanish when it comes in con- 

 tact with energy and skill in any depart- 

 ment of knowledge. May success at- 

 tend their efforts in their present under- 

 taking, as it has in their past, is the firm 

 hope of all their friends. 



[We have not noticed any "causes" 

 for this in the foreign journals. We 

 shall give them as soon as we find any- 

 thing of interest on the subject.— Ed.] 



