234 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



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CONDUCTED BY CH. DAD ANT & SON. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



How a Swarm Hangs to the Branch. 



There is not a person who, when seeing 

 a limb bending under the weight of a 

 swarm, has not wondered how the bees 

 that are fastened to the branch can support 

 the weight of tlie swarm. The question is 

 asked and an answer sought for, but many 

 remain silent before that problem. 



Here yet is one of those marvels that 

 the works of nature offer in such large num- 

 bers to our admiration. 



It seems, indeed, contrary to all the 

 physical laws, that an insect be able at 

 will, to walk or remain still on a polished 

 surface in an upturned position. 



Such is however the case with flies, for 

 they can walk on the outside of an horizon- 

 glass-pane. 



This adlieriug capacity is so powerful in 

 bees, that a swarm weighing several kilo- 

 grammes is supported by a few hundred 

 bees who are fastened on the underside of 

 a branch, without their being visibly tired 

 by the weight. Nature shows us there, an 

 application of the physical laws, the ex- 

 istence of which man has discovered only 

 after many centuries of researches. 



It is hardly 200 years since the discovery 

 •of the power of a void space or vacuum 

 that is, the cessation of equilibrium in the 

 weight of the atmosphere on a determined 

 surface, give us the explanation of this fact. 

 It was in 1650 that Otto of Guerick from 

 Magdebourg invented the pneumatic ma- 

 chine. 



But for generations, children in play have 

 repeated too simple and conclusive experi- 

 ments on the force of a vacuum. The first 

 consists in taking a liollow key and inhal- 

 ing the air that it contains, thereby holding 

 it suspended to the tongue or lips. This 

 play is common with school boys especially 

 during school hours. 



The second is not so easy. They take a 

 round piece of leather a few inches in 

 diameter and fasten a string in the center of 

 it taking care to leave no room for air. 

 They wet it and then press it against a 

 heavy and flat body, such as a flat stone, 

 then by pulling on the string they can lift 

 the stone. IIow can it be done, since there 

 is no adhering substance between the leath- 

 er and the rock ? The explanation is of 

 little moment to them ; that which they 

 know is that by pulling a soft membrane 

 from a smooth body they encounter a re- 

 sistance which is capable of lifting a con- 

 siderable weight. Let us suppose this leath- 



er adhering to the ceiling, and it will sup- 

 port the same M-eight that it has lifted from 

 the ground. It is exactly the same thing 

 which takes place at the extremity of the 

 bees legs when it fastens itself to the ceiling. 



Enclose a bee in a box with transparent 

 glass lid ; then examine her with a good 

 lens when she remains still with her claws 

 fastened to the glass. You will see a hol- 

 low circular membrane that works exactly 

 like the wet leather with which childrea 

 play ; only in a place of a string the bee 

 lias in the center a horny substance that she 

 can draw at will, and that the weight of 

 her body maintains in the proper position, 

 so that she can sleep in this posture. They 

 are like real cupping glasses, and when 

 once stretched they adhere strongly without 

 any exertion on the part of the bee. The 

 heavier the bee is, the more the membrane 

 is stretched. It explaius the fact that a 

 swarm weighing several kilogrammes, and 

 heavy enough to bend the limb to which it 

 is attatched, adheres to the branch only by 

 a small number of bees, who support the 

 weight of the rest, although in a reversed 

 position. Modern science has even calcula- 

 ted the weight that can be supported by a 

 vacuum in a determined space. It amounts 

 to 1 kilogramme and 33 grammes on a 

 square centimeter of space. The mem- 

 brance of a bee's claw enlarged 60 diame- 

 ter would cover a surface of over one cen- 

 timeter. Each bee having 6 claws, 10 bees 

 would be sutiicieut to bear the weight of 1 

 kilogramme. 



It is easy after that, to understand how a 

 swarm, however heavy, can remain sus- 

 pended for hours without fatigue. 



Dr. Boukgeois. 

 Translated from L Apiculteur, June 1874, 



Rapidity of Bees' Flight. — Murray 

 says that, connected with the transmigra- 

 tion of bees, is the question of the extent 

 of their flight. He believes that two miles 

 may be considered as the radius of the cir- 

 cle of their ordinary range, though circum- 

 stances will occasionally drive them at 

 least a mile more. Judging from the sweep 

 that the bees take by the side of a railroad 

 train in motion, he should set down their 

 pace at about thirty miles an hour. 



Varieties of the Bee. — Don Felix d' 

 Azara, a Spanish traveler, describes several 

 species of bees found in Paraguay, South 

 America. One is double the size of the bee 

 of old Spain, and the smallest only one- 

 fourth the size. But few had stings. The 

 honey of the large bee was not good ; taat 

 of another intoxicated ; and another pro- 

 duced violent pains and convulsions, last- 

 ing sometimes thirty hours, without serious 

 consequences. 



