112 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAI.. 



[Nov., 



Huber introduced a fertile queen, eleven 

 months old, into a hive which had lost its own 

 twenty-four hours before. Immediately on 

 placing her on the comb the workers which 

 were near the spot touched her with their at- 

 tennae, and passinj? their trunks over her body, 

 gave her hotiey. Then these gave place to oth- 

 ers who treated her in exactly the same manner. 

 * Vibrating their wings »t once, they all ranged 

 themselves around their adopted sovereign, 

 hence resulted a kind of agitation, which was 

 gradually communicated to other workers on 

 the same comb, and induced them to come and 

 reconnoiter, in their turn, what was going on. 

 These arriving, and breaking through the circle 

 that formed the foremost ranks, approached the 

 queen, touched her with their attennaj, and 

 gave her honey. After this little ceremony, 

 they retired, and placing themselves behind the 

 other where they vibrated their wings without 

 tumult or disorder. When she began to move 

 they were so far from oppo.sing her progress, 

 that they opened the circle at that part towards 

 which she turned, followed her and surrounded 

 her with a guard. 



ANTIPATHY BETWEEN QUEENS. 



That antipathy of queens is natural, is proved 

 by the fact that it holds good even against the 

 almost universal instinct of maternal feeling. 

 The queen bee at certain seasons, as shall be 

 hereafter explained, lays eggs, which in due 

 time are destined to bring forth otiicr queens. 

 It might be sujjposed that, in tiiis case, the feel- 

 ings of a mother would have their full sway — 

 not so. As soon as her young are about to as- 

 sume a shape like her own, even when they are 

 yet in their cr idle, and incapableof self defence, 

 she is stimulated to the utmost fury by their 

 presence; she tears open the cells which con- 

 tain them and kills her own offspring. What- 

 ever may be the motive to such an action, we 

 must regard it as intended to answer other pur- 

 poses than gratifying the revenge of a poor in- 

 sect. It forms a part of the economy of nature. 

 It is evidently the intention of the author of 

 nature that this should take place, for an espe- 

 cial provision appears to be made for such an 

 attack on the young queens. The cocoon which 

 the royal grub spins differs from that spun by 

 the worker grub. The latter is closed in every 

 direction, so th'it the silk coating would ward 

 off the sting. The former, on the contrary, is 

 left open and uncovered on the only part of the 

 body which is vulnerable — the lower rings of 

 the belly. Renediur. 



(To be Continued.) 



In the Island of Madagascar, and the Mauri- 

 tius Islands, a species of bee is found (Apis 

 unicolor) of a bright shining black, without 

 spots or colored bands. The honey which is 

 highly spoken of, is at first of a green, but 

 becomes reddish-yellow with age. 



A Plant Destructive to Bees. 



The large podded milk weed almost invari- 

 ably causes the death of every bee alighting 

 upon it. The bee either adheres to the plant, 

 or else bears away a small scale sticking to its 

 feet, and cripples itself fatally in attempting 

 to remove the annoyance. — H. E. Norton, in 

 Agriculture Report. 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



Brood -without Pollen. 



I am quite in accordance with Argus, when 

 he says that brood cannot be reared without 

 pollen. I can supi)ort my theory on some facts, 

 which are exactly the reverse of the experience 

 quoted by Mr. J. Butler, in the American Bee 

 Journal for August. 



Some three or four years ago, I had a small 

 colony which deserted its hive in April. I ex- 

 amined the hive, while that Easter swarm clus- 

 tered, and found soni' brood and plenty honey. 

 Without guessing at the cause of the desertion, 

 I put it back in its hive. The next day it 

 deserted again. I examined the hive anew, and 

 noticed that there was no pollen to be found. 

 I took a comb of pollen from another stock, 

 which had been qucenless for some time the 

 preceding summer, and gave it to my needy 

 colony ; rehived it, and tlie bees, henceforth 

 content, remained peacefully in their hive. 



This spring 1 have had three similar stocks, 

 who deserted their hives. Two mixed together, 

 and I did not see tit to separate them. All 

 three had honey and brood but no pollen. 



Remembering the lesson received three years 

 ago, I gave them pollen; put them in their 

 hives, and they remained, and are still there. 



These facts show plainly that pollen is ab- 

 solutely necessary to bees, to rear brood ; and 

 that the lack of pollen can often be accused of 

 doing the mischief, when colonies desert their 

 hives. 



Science is in accordance with experience, to 

 .show that brood cannot be reared without pol- 

 len. All the beings of the animal kingdom, are 

 compounded with albuminous matter. The bee 

 is not an exception to the rule. Honey does 

 not contain albuminous matter; it contains 

 mainly saccharine, or hydrogenous and car- 

 bonaceous matter. Whence could the larvje get 

 the albumen, necessary to their development, if 

 they had only honey to eat? The jelly which 

 is given to the brood by the bees, contains the 

 elementary substance, albumen, which is derived 

 from pollen, and without which the young bee 

 could not develop itself. 



Ch. Dadant, 



The word honey is undoubtedly derived from 

 the Hebrew ghoneg, which means " delight ; " an 

 appropriate title. 



