the outside or each of these bracts at 

 its base. These it is that prove attrac- 

 tive to bees; and, as they secrete and 

 are visited only about the time of 

 blooming, it is very natural that the 

 flowers and not the bracts should be 

 considered the seat of the secretion. 

 These glands are shallow pits lined with 

 a thin-walled and otherwise modified 

 portion of the epidermis, which is the 

 secreting part of the organ; and it is 

 worthy of note that, so far as I know, 

 the active portion of all nectar glands 

 occurring outside the flower, with the 

 single exception of the cow-pea, con- 

 sists of modified epidermis. 



Many species of Cassia have nectar 

 glands on the pistoles of their compound 

 leaves. A familiar example is the 

 greater coffee weed [C. occidentalis), 

 which has a large globular gland near 

 the base of the pistole, and is much fre- 

 quented by moths and hymenopterous 

 insects of many sorts, the hive bee be- 

 ing often found among them. Scores 

 of the examples from many genera 

 might be given, but these will suffice to 

 illustrate this class of organs. 



The secretion of these glands, and, in 

 fact,any nectar occurringelsewhere than 

 in the flower, is sometimes popularly 

 called honey dew ; but, as this name 

 is applied to two other classes of sugary 

 fluid, it would seem preferalle always 

 to speak of the honey-like secretion of 

 glandular organs outside the flower as 

 extra-floral nectar. With this limita- 

 tion, we would understand by honey 

 dew: 1. The sweet secretions from the 

 dorsal tubes of «p/w*c7es, or plant lice, 

 that proves very attractive to ants, with 

 whom its possession is sometimes dis- 

 puted by bees, and which not infre- 

 quently drips upon the leaves of the 

 plant so as to glaze them, as with a var- 

 nish. 2. A fluid similar in taste and 

 appearance to the last, and like it at- 

 tractive to bees and other insects, but 

 produced by the plant, and not the pro- 

 duct of glandular organs. The first, as 

 will be seen, is an animal product, and 

 with it we are not here concerned ; the 

 second, apparently due to heat and 

 other climatic influences, has been con- 

 sidered as a disease of the plant, but is, 

 perhaps, only a means of ridding the 

 system of surplus saccharine matter, 

 for plants that produce much of this 

 excretion are not usually found to be 

 weaker than those which produce none. 



With these brief notices we must end 

 our study of the organs that secrete 

 nectar, but not without the hope that 

 they may stimulate others to observe 

 closely the actions of their bees and 

 the causes of their choice of some plants 

 and rejection of others. In other arti- 



cles we may consider the good that the 

 plants themselves derive from the pro- 

 duction of nectar, and the way in which 

 so abundant a supply of food for insects, 

 and indirectly for men. may have been 

 brought about. 



Fur the American Bee Journal. 



Those Egg-Bound Queens. 



M. S. SNOW 



Those queens that Mr. II. L. Jeffrey 

 spoke of in the last Journal as being 

 egg-bound are probably young queens 

 that have very lately mated With the 

 male or drone bee, and probably would 

 commence laying in 3 or 4 days, even 

 if he had not removed what he thought 

 to be eggs protruding and dried on, 

 when it was simply the male organs of 

 the drone. Queens becoming old. or 

 showing weakness from any cause, are 

 superseded by young queens ; they, of 

 course, are fertilized by the drone, the 

 organs of generation remaining a cer- 

 tain length of time. If Mr. Jeffrey 

 chances to discover another queen as he 

 speaks of, let her entirely alone and see 

 if she does not commence laying in 3 or 

 4 days. The tested Italian he speaks of 

 was" without doubt worried almost to 

 deatli when she was introduced, and 

 when she commenced to lay, the bees, 

 seeing her weakness, superseded her 

 with a young queen, and if there are no 

 Italian drones in the vicinity, she will 

 be what is termed a hybrid queen. I 

 am rearing Italian queens, and to-day 

 have seen 3 young queens in the condi- 

 tion Mr. J. speaks of. 



Osakis, Minn., July 13, 1880. 



[Mr. Jeffrey is too much a scientific as 

 well as practical bee-keeper, to commit 

 the foolish blunders attributed to him 

 above. Two seasons ago we lost a val- 

 uable queen, and from appearances be- 

 fore and after her death, we incline to 

 think something like that mentioned 

 by Mr. Jeffrey was the cause. — Ed.] 



For the American Bee Journal. 



One-Piece Section Controversy. 



JAMES FORNCROOK. 



Mr. Editor : In the American Bee 

 Journal for July you say: "It would 

 be much better to make a plain state- 

 ment of the facts rather than dispute 

 over technicalities." Now, with your 

 permission, I will state the plain facts 

 in the case : I invented the one-piece 



