American Bee Journal, 



DEVOTED EXCLUSIVELY TO BEE CULTURE. 



Vol. XI. CEDAR RAPIDS, FEBRUARY, 1875. No. 2. 



A Soientific Mare's Nest. 



Prof. A. S. Packard Jr., has discovered a 

 mare's nest in tlie realm of bee-keeping. He 

 amiounces his discovery in an article liead- 

 ed "The Busy Bee" contributed to tlie Chi- 

 cago Advance of Jan. 7th 1875, He says. 

 "Notwithstanding the large number of bee- 

 keepers with more or less leisure on their 

 hands, and honey-bees by hundreds of 

 thousands in the United States, and the 

 many interesting questions constantly aris- 

 ing regarding their economy. The bee has 

 not yet found a Mograiiher on this side of 

 of the Atlantic. * * "He then goes 

 on to say, it has been reserved for one of the 

 busiest of men to study that busiest of in- 

 sects, the bee. Sir John Lubbock, banker, 

 M. P., Vice Chancellor of London Univer- 

 sity, entomologist, anthropologist, fox hunt- 

 er, and what not,— he it is who has played 

 Boswell to the honey-bee, and "noted the 

 daily and hourly doings of the hero of the 

 hive." 



"We are exceedingly glad that such a very 

 busy man and one so shingled over with 

 titles and honors, has had the inclination 

 and found the time, to study the habits of 

 the bee, and give the fruits of his investiga- 

 tions to the world. Nor can we have the 

 slightest objection to Prof. Packard's 

 trumpeting forth his praises in The Ad- 

 vance, or any other newspaper, whether 

 secular or religious. But we can't permit 

 him to write up his wonderful Englishman 

 at the expense of truth, and at the expense 

 of the reputations of "the large number of 

 bee-keepers" on the American continent. 

 What a discovery this is of the Professoi''s 

 that "the bee has never found a biographer 

 on this side of the Atlantic." Where has 

 the learned Professor spent his days, that 

 he has never heard of Langstroth, Quinby, 

 Wagner, Kirkland, Gallup, King, Thomas, 

 Root, Mrs. Tupper, and a host of others, 

 who have played Boswell to the honey-bee, 

 and noted "with a loving minuteness, the 

 daily and hourly doings of the hero of the 

 hive," giving the results of their observa- 

 tions to the public in the shape of books, 

 pamphlets, periodicals, letters and scientific 



papers well nigh innumerable ? His prod- 

 igy of acuteness and industry, Sir John 

 Lubbock, has discovered nothing with 

 which all intelligent bee-keepers are not 

 thoroughly acquainted, except those two 

 startling things: Jirnt, that bees are unable 

 to find honey at all hidden except by acci- 

 dent, and secondly, that when a bee hap- 

 pens to light upon honey in a rather by- 

 place, or is carried to it by some scientist 

 like Sir John, it has no means of imparting 

 its knowledge of the store to other bees. 

 Now having seen a pretty full report of a 

 lecture by Sir John, embodying the sub- 

 stance of the pamphlet which has thrown 

 Prof. Packard into such raptures, we find 

 the first of these amazing discoveries if not 

 indeed both of them contradicted by the 

 great discoverer himself. Referring to the 

 pertinacity with which bees pursue honey, 

 he cites the fact that they will go for it 

 even into "sweet shops," where multitudes 

 of them perish. How does this happen, if 

 instinct does not guide them to by-places 

 where sweets may be found, and if one bee 

 camiot, in some way, impart information to 

 another ? We can only say that Sir John's 

 discoveries, as announced by the learned 

 Professor in The Advance, are at variance 

 with the experience of bee-hunters and bee- 

 keepers on this side of the great Atlantic 

 fish-pond. In hunting for bee-trees, de- 

 pendence is put on the instinct and com- 

 municative power which Sir John denies to 

 bees, while the robbing of isolated hives, 

 and the gathering of honey in all sorts of 

 out of-the-way places, point to conclusions 

 the very reverse of those arrived at by the 

 scientific baronet. 



Prof. Packard remarks, "It would seem 

 that bees have enough intelligence to guide 

 them in conducting the affairs of the hive." 

 Well now, that's very astonishing, especially 

 when you come to think that this was the 

 identical end for which they were created. 

 Its very like observing, with a note of ex- 

 clamation, that birds, fishes, animals and 

 insects generally, have intelligence enough 

 to fill their respective spheres. Certainly 

 the universe would have bi^n very badly 

 contrived, if this had not been the case. 



C. 



