176 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



hope to hear from eight or ten in opera- 

 tion this season. 



Every earnest, progressive bee keeper 

 in the countrj^ is doing his utmost to for- 

 ward the best interests of the fraternity. 

 '■'■ Progress'''' \s the watchword. The man 

 (or the woman) who shall assist in devis- 

 ing means for saving the millions of dol- 

 lars worth of honey now annually wasted, 

 will be as deserving of grateful remem- 

 brance, as he who causes two blades of 

 grass to grow where but one had grown 

 before. J. S. CoE. 



Montclair, N. J. 



For the American Bee Journal. 

 Italian Bee Cliromos. 



I see in the last number of the Amer- 

 ican Bee Journal thai Count Visconti 

 di Saliceto, manager of the Journal VApi- 

 coltore and secretary of the Central Soci- 

 ety of Bee Keepers of Italy, asks me to 

 testify concerning the value of the cliro- 

 mos now issued by this society. 



In reply I will say that about two years 

 ago, (the work of drawing, painting, etc., 

 has taken about two years) after receiving 

 a specimen plate of their chromos I was 

 so well pleased with it that my first 

 tliought was to introduce them among the 

 American bee keepers. Consequently, I 

 wrote to Mr. Clarke, then proprietor of 

 the American Bee Journal, offering 

 him my gratuitous services to negotiate 

 with the Milanese Society, so as to have 

 these chromos given three or more every 

 year as premiums for the Journal. Mr. 

 Clarke accepted my services, but as the 

 Milanese Society had very little profit, if 

 any, on these chromos, the diflereuce be- 

 tween the retail and the wholesale price 

 was so small that it was impossible to 

 give them as premiums, so, to my sorrow, 

 this scheme was abandoned. 



These chromos consist in a frontis- 

 piece and thirty plates, on copper plate 

 paper, 12x8 inches. 



The first plate represents a comb with 

 three kinds of cells. 



The second, eggs and grubs. 



Third, pnpa. 



Fourth, queen. 



Fifth, worker. 



Sixth, drone. 



Seventh, head of a queen. 



Eiglith, head of a worker. 



Ninth, head of a drone. 



Tenth, composite and small eggs. 



Eleventh, wing. 



Twelfth, legs. 



Thirteenth, mouth. 



Fourteenth, digestive organs. 



Fifteenth, pulsatory vessel and nervous 

 system. 



Sixteeuth, air bag, trachea and stigma. 



Seventeenth, sting and its appendages, 

 etc. 



Eighteenth, organ of the wax. 



Nineteenth, salivary glands. 



Tw^entieth, sting of the queen, with 

 ovaries and spermatheca of an impreg- 

 nated queen. 



Twenty-first, genital organs of a virgin 

 qvieen. 



Twenty-second, genital organs of an 

 impregnated queen. 



Twenty-third, genital organs of a work- 

 er, and of a laying worker. 



Twenty-fourth, genital organs of an early 

 emerged drone. 



Twenty-fifth, genital organs of an adult 

 drone. 



Twenty-sixth, penis upturned after the 

 copulation. 



Twenty-seventh, spermatozoid. 



Twenty-eighth, transversal section of a 

 queen, showing all the organs in their re- 

 spective places. 



Twenty-ninth, braula coeca, (bee louse). 



Thirtieth, moth and its larvae. 



These chromos, made on the micro- 

 scopic works of Count Gaetano Barbo, 

 works which obtained several premiums 

 in the bee keepers' expositions in ti'rance, 

 Germany, Austria and Italy, have been 

 drawn and painted by Mr. Elericy, chosen 

 on account of his ability, by the society 

 of Milan. 



I have already received 18 of these 

 plates; the six first sent were lost on their 

 way here: possibly some postmaster's 

 employee has liked them too much to let 

 them arrive here. The twelve which were 

 sent afterwards arrived with a lot of 

 queens, after having been spoiled by salt 

 water; the six following arrived all right. 



I have written for another collection, 

 and I wait for it for the work is just com- 

 pleted. The merit of these chromos has 

 not deceived my expectations. All the 

 bee keepers who called here since a 

 few months were anxious to get a col- 

 lection of them. The price in lii\\y is 20 

 francs in gold. It is low if we compare 

 it with their entomological, microscopi- 

 cal and artistical value. But the difticully 

 is : how to receive them here safely ? We 

 cannot get them through the post-office — 

 some might be lost on their way, and the 

 rest maj' be broken at the coruei-s so as to 

 have their neatness greatly damaged. 



A few copies sent b}' express would cost 

 too much. It would be quite difterent if 

 we would raise a club. Besides, if the 

 number ordered was one hundred or 

 more we could aftbrd to have a drawing 

 made expressly for us, and the reading on 

 the plates in English language instead of 

 Italian, as it is now. 



If some bee keepers want to get these 

 chromos, we can make a list and order 

 them as soon as we have a sufficient num- 

 ber of names. 



The price delivered here will be about 

 $(). Send $1 in advance when ordering; 

 this dollar will be refunded if we cannot 



