THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



161 



turned to tlie hive to W apiin fillt'd. We 

 have also examined the guinhy and the 

 Win(U'r smokers for subduing bees, and eiin 

 reconuiiend tlieni as vaUiable aids in the 

 inanii>ulations of an ai)iary. We also ex- 

 amined the .tjlass honey jars of C T. Muth, 

 of Cincinnati, which jdensed us very much, 

 and we reconmu'nd them in honey producers 

 fur uiarkctin^ lluid honey. 



i;. .s. MrNFoui). 



1.. 1'. «M1TII. 



,1. II. W.VI.I,.^( E. 



\l. F. Bktiif.i.. 



Trof. Wheeler offered the following; reso- 

 lutifm which was unanimously adoi)ted : 



licxtilvcd. That we tender our thanks to 

 the President and Secretary for their labors 

 in behalf of this Society since our last meet- 

 ing. 



On motion of P. P. Colin, this Convention 

 tenders Mr. Alexander and lady their thanks 

 for their kind hospitality and sumptuous 

 dinner. 



On motion of Mr. Cheek, the Soutliern 

 Kentucky Bee-keepers' Society adjourned 

 to meet in Burksvilie. ('und)erland county, 

 Kentucky, the third Wednesday in Septem- 

 ber next, at 10 o'clock a. m. 



II. W. Sanders. See'y. 



The Bee Hive. 



r.Y DR. S. V. SUMMEKS, KXTOMOI.OOIST. 



1. The impression seems to be jreneral 

 tliat bees malielioney, secrete wax, aiid per- 

 form other iini(ine and semi-nuirvelous 

 facts, quite at variance with other sres;*i'- 

 ous insects: lience we not unfretiuently lind 

 our agricultural pajiers teeming with some 

 wonderful nuuiifested imtceedings of these 

 i«ocial tril)es, confnsiu.i; the novice, and de- 

 terring others from this instructive and pro- 

 tftable vocation. 



2. We shall endeavor to confine our re- 

 marks to as. practical and elucidated an 

 account concerning these aduiirable insects 

 as our space will admit. " 



3. The inhabitants of a hive comprises 

 — one female, usually denominated a queen, 

 a ftw liundred males or drones, and a mul- 

 titude of neuters or workers. The female 

 or queen bees have their ahdotnen more 

 elongated, the color and markings scarcely 

 differ from the males, head larger tha;i the 

 workers, tongue more abreviated, maxilhe 

 less curved, mandibles furticate, angles less 

 prominent, apex toothed, the external tooth 

 acute and the internal obtuse or truncate, 

 color piceous with redish cast, labrum tlu- 

 vous, antenuie piceous, scales at base of 

 wings rufo-piceous, wings only reaching to 

 tip of third abdominal segment, tursi and 

 apex of tibse rufo-ulvous, the posterior tribo? 

 are naked above, below clotlied with short, 

 dense, erect hairs, liaving the marginal 

 border of hairs wanting, abdomen longer 

 than head or throat cond)ined. tip or dorsal 

 segments of fulvous, clothed with very 

 short, pliable, erect hairs. The nuiles or 

 drones are quite the reverse: body thicker, 

 stouter, more clumsy, and very obtuse at 

 extremity, head more depressed and orbic- 

 ular, tongue sliorter and more slender than 

 in the feihales, mandibles smaller, wings 

 longer than body, tibiaj long, club 

 shaped, clothed with inconsi)ici(ms 

 hairs, ablomen cordate, short, not longer 



than hea<l and throax, third and dorsal seg- 

 ments api)arently miked, hairs only visible 

 under a high magnifying i)Ower, reuuiining 

 segnu'iits hairy. Tiu' neuters or workers 

 are nndevelo))ed fenndes; they have a 

 more elongate body, tongue longer and In- 

 curx'ctl, wings approximating the apex of 

 the fomth abdonnuai seguu'ut, legs all black, 

 posterior tibia' naked above, concavo-con- 

 vex, clothed with lateral and recumbent 

 hairs, abdomen oblong, longer than head 

 and throax cond)ined, clothed with hmg 

 tiaveous hairs, vagina of the spicula 

 straight. 



4. liaving detailed vou to the different 

 varieties contained witlun a hive— the exist- 

 ence of but a single female— you may feel 

 somewhat curious to learn herorigin. When 

 a colony of bees by any mishap lose their 

 queen, and are supfilied with comb contain- 

 ing young working larv;e only, they will 

 select one or more larvie to he educated as 

 fertile fenndes or (pieens, which, by having 

 their workers' cells enlarged and being fed 

 with choice honey for not more than two 

 davs. when they emerge from the pupa state 

 will couu' forth (luceus. Had they remained 

 in their original cells, they could only have 

 bred workers, yet here we have them with 

 their form, instinct and powers of genera- 

 tion entirely different. In order to produce 

 this change, th.e larvie nuist not average 

 nmre than three days old, and this is the 

 age at which, acconling to M. Schirach. the 

 bees usuallv select the larva to be royalized. 

 Having selected the larva, they clean out 

 the food and occupants from the two cells 

 that adjoin the favored larva: they then 

 remove the three cell walls, leaving the bot- 

 toms untouched, thence they raise round the 

 queen larva a cylindrical tube, in a horazon- 

 tal jiositionto tlie other cells; thiscomideted 

 then thev demolish the cells iuunediately 

 beneatli, from which they construct a inra- 

 niidical tube, which joins at right angles 

 the horizontal tube. The bees keep length- 

 ening this cAl as the larva grows in size, 

 at the same time they are constantly sup- 

 plying it witli food, dei>osited at its mouth 

 and sides of abdomen. The larva keei)s up 

 a constant turning to reach tins food, and 

 thus insensibly arrives at the orface of its 

 cell, when it immediately assumes the pupa, 

 after which the workers close up the cell. 

 Thus with this knowlege before us, we are 

 at once informed how to make artificial 

 swarms, and that this art of producing 

 queens at will is no doubt practiced by many 

 an apiarian of to-day. 



.5. W^ith respect to the variations of in- 

 stinct and character which result from the 

 different modes of rearing the young bees, 

 that we are now considering: Their in- 

 stinct teaches them a certain kind of food, 

 supplied to a larva inhabiting a certain 

 shaped cell, in a certain position, will pro- 

 duce certain elfects upon it. rendering it 

 dilferent from what it woidd have been un- 

 der ordinary circumstances, and fitted to 

 answer their peculiar wants. 



6. The queen bee re(inires some sixteen 

 days during her preparatory stages before 

 she is readv to emerge from her cell. All 

 bee larva- are without legs, still by the be- 

 fore mentioned spiral motion are enabled at 

 first to produce a slow movement, but after 

 this it is more easily discerned. 



Another notable fact connected with the 

 life history of these insects : I refer to the 

 cocoons. The larv;e of the drones and 



