128 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



[Dec. 



when the hbney season ended. He could not 

 show hig queen, because he did not want to 

 disturb the bees. He thought they should not 

 be handled much. ' t • ' 



In 1871, Gray & Winder had a swarm-(Tf-l5?e!s . 

 on exhibition, which was open near1v*8(ll ttite - 

 time. They did not appear to be aMld,bf"dis- ' 

 turbing them, and gave much . satlsfacliohby , 

 showing the queen and all the'in'teVual arrange- 

 mente of the hive to visitol's." 



This year (1873) Mr. Townley had one of his 

 box hives on exhibition, and a good show of 

 honey also. His hive was fixed up in a strange 

 manner. It had glass sides and nothing but 

 edges of combs could be seen on all sides. He 

 also had boxes on top, all over holes, through 

 which the bees filled the receptacles with honey, 

 and one tumbler. But the tumbler was an 

 exception. He had a written notice pasted on 

 the inside of the tumbler to this effect : " This 

 tumbler to be left empty." He called these 

 bees Italians, but it seems they understand 

 English, for they left the tumbler empty, al- 

 though the writing was towards the outside. I 

 suppose they sent one of their number out to 

 read it. He has or had one swarm which one 

 season was remarkably prolific. It furnished 

 enough honey to buy a gold watch, about one 

 hundred dollars of spending money, and some 

 other articles which I do not now remember. 

 He does not favor disturbing his bees, and does 

 not think much of frame hives. 



Further along on the same bench was a frame 

 hive exhibited by Mr. Muth. He opened it 

 while I was there, showing us the queen and 

 every part of the hive, and the bees quietly at 

 work. He has different ideas from Mr. Faulk- 

 ner and Mr. Townley about disturbing bees. 

 He says he opens his hives whenever he wishes, 

 for any reason, and does not find that it has 

 any bad effect. Now, what is the opinion of the 

 mass of beekeepers as to the effect of frequent 

 examination of hives, and what are the different 

 results oi frequent or iH/reguen< examinations 

 of swarms? 



As to the notice on the tumbler, I recollect 

 something similar relating to cockroaches. 

 When you want to clear them out of a house, 

 write them a formal notice to quit in good, plain, 

 round hand, sign it, and have a witness attest 

 it, and then lay it on the floor of your kitchen 

 about bedtime. If you go back in a short time 

 to look at it, you will find it surrounded by 

 cockroaches, carefully reading it, and perhaps 

 digesting it, and next morning they will have 

 left. ^^ H. 



J 'j* [For the American Bee Journal.] 



The Honey Bee, 



(Continued from Last Number.) 



Observing the effect of the antennae in agi- 

 tating bees, Huber contrived a series of beau- 

 tiful experiments to ascertain their uses. He 



divided a hive into two portions by the sudden 

 iutrodtiction of a grating, through which a bee 

 might hear, see, and smell, but not touch its 

 •/jjiteu. • . In tjie course of an ho\ir, one of these 

 :d,iYisious'.w;iS agituted, and the bees were seen 

 .^s^oan^pej'ing Qver the combs, neglecting their 

 labors, ayd I ci-.osping their ant<<'una?. In the 

 other tht-y w^r^ quiet. , It was easy, therefore, 

 to in,fLr;in which half the queien had been in- 

 cluded. In the division which was destitute 

 of a qu?en, the workers,. after, waiting the usual 

 time, began to construct queen cells, for the 

 purpose of replacijig the lost queen. 



Seeing, then, that it wag not by the means of 

 the sense of sight, hearing, smelling, or of any 

 other unknown sense which acted at a distance, 

 that the agitation of bees was excited, Huber 

 so contrived the grating that the openings were 

 just large enough to admit the antenna?, but 

 not the head of the bee, to pass through them. 

 On one side of this grating a queen was placed 

 with a few workers, who immediately paid her 

 the usual homage by forming a circle with their 

 heads turned towards her, offering her honey 

 and other marks of attention. On the other 

 side, were the rest of the swarm. In this expe- 

 riment, the ])ees seemed aware that the queen 

 was not lost, there was no neglect of labor, 

 no hurry, but every thing went on in a very 

 orderly manner. 



" The means of communicating with this 

 queen," says the same observer, " were very sin- 

 gular. An indefinite number of antennae thrust 

 through the grating, and turned ^n all direc- 

 tions, plainly indicated that the bees were oc- 

 cupied in searching for her. She gave decisive 

 proof that she was aware of the interest which 

 was taken in her existence, by always remaining 

 fixed on the grating, and crossing her antennae 

 with those so evidently employed in ascertain- 

 ing her presence. Their trunks were, likewise, 

 observed to be introduced to the queen's divis- 

 ion ; and, while a captive, she was fed by her 

 subjects from within the hive." 



To make out the use of the antennae, Huber 

 amputated them altogether. This experiment 

 produced some remarkable results. The queen, 

 when thus mutilated, ran about the combs, 

 di-opped her eggs anywhere but in the cells ; 

 could not direct her proboscis right, for if she 

 required honey, she stretched it out at random, 

 and bv chance only, to the mouths of the work- 

 ers. The antenna? of a second queen having 

 been amputated, she was put into the same 

 hive as the first, and acted in the same manner; 

 she, too, ran about ia a delirium, retired to the 

 corner of the hive, and strove to get out. Two re- 

 markable things occurred in these experiments : 



1. The workers, though they knew they were 

 queens, for they paid them the honors of a sov- 

 ereign, did not know one queen from another ; 

 for a strange queen is always imprisoned when 

 she enters a hive already provided with one. 

 In this case, both were respected. 



