76 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Until the publication of Siebold's Partheno- 

 geneiiis, I Ihought that Prof. Leidy's wna the first 

 microscopic dissection of the spermathecas of 

 the queen bees; and therefore the tirst to put 

 all the facts upon the basis of complete demon- 

 stration. From Siebold's work, which is full 

 of the most interesting details on this subject, 

 it appears that in 1843 he had made microscopic 

 dissections upon the spermaMiecas of impreg- 

 nated queens. The first microscopic examina- 

 tion made in Europe of the spermatheca of a 

 drone-laying queen was by liCuckart, in IMarch, 

 1855, on a subject furnished to him by the Bar- 

 on Von Berlepsch. In July, 1853, Berlcpsch 

 sent to Siebold a queen caught entering her 

 hive with visible marks of sexual intercourse. 



1 have thus given for the information of {"he 

 bee-beeping public, all the essential facts with 

 which 1 am acquainted, on points of great prac- 

 tical importance to every apiarian, some of 

 which seemed so directly to overthrow what 

 had hitherto been regarded as first principles in 

 phy.siolog}-, that only repeated and unquestion- 

 able demonstrations could establish them. 



L. L. Langstkoth. 



Oxford, Butler Co., Ohio. 



Whilst the season contmues favorable for col- 

 lecting honey and pollen, bees labor from dawn 

 to dark; and that they never cease to gather 

 stores for their magazines, is not however from 

 a foreknowl(Klge tliat a season is approaching 

 when their harvest will be denied them; bul 

 they are furnished by nature with an impulse 

 for obtaining their lood, without thinking or 

 being capable of thinking, of any precaution- 

 ary measures for that purpose. Their nature 

 requires that thej- should gather honey and pol- 

 len, and they accordingly do so. 



Speaking of the antennse of the queen bee, 

 Huber remarks that according to experiments, 

 "the amputation of one did not effect her in- 

 stinct; but if both were cut off near the root, 

 these privileged beings, these mothers, so much 

 the object of consideration, lost all their influ- 

 ence; even the instinct of maternity disappear- 

 ed. Their eggs were no longer deposited in the 

 cells; their mutual animosities were forgot; they 

 passed close together without recognizing each 

 other; and the workers themselves seemed to 

 participate in their indifference." 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Do young queens ever make hymeneal excur- 

 sions prior to the third day after being estab- 

 lished as the head of a colony? Apis. 



[The general impression, based on observa- 

 tion, is, that such excursions are not made be- 

 fore the third day, or until the young queen is 

 at least three days old. Recorded facts, how- 

 ever, show that there is no definite and uni- 

 form period to which this can be limited; and 

 the following statement given by Mr. Stary, in 

 a late number of the Bienenzeihtng, shows that 

 there may be exceptional cases when ihe excur- 

 sion is made within a day, nay, within an Hour, 

 after the young queen leaves the royal cell : 



"On the morning of the 2Gth of June, 1863, I 

 heard an emerged queen teeting in a hive from 

 which a prime swarm had issued on the 17th 

 of that month; and I heard, also, clearlyand 

 distiuctlj', the quaicking responses of two other 

 young queens yet remaining in their cells. I 

 "heard this repeatedlj'^ from five to eight o'clock 

 in the forenoon. At about nine o'clock the 

 expected swarm issued, accompanied by two 

 queens, one of which I immediately seized and 

 killed. After hiving the swarm and placing it 

 on its stand, which may have taken thirty min- 

 utes, I returned to the parent hive to make my 

 customary examination. I had scarcely got 

 there when I saw a young queen issue and per- 

 ambulate the alighting board, preparatory to 

 making her intended excursion. As I intended 

 to Italianize that colonj', I caught this cjueen 

 and destroyed her, substituting for her a fertile 

 Italian queen, which was at once kindly re- 

 ceived and accepted."] 



For the American Bee Jonrnal. 



Wintering Stocks. 



It is evident that bees act in concert, that 

 their operations tend to one general object, and 

 that they are aware of its being fulfilled. All 

 this cannot be done without some mode of com- 

 munication with each other; but as all their per- 

 formances are in the dark, it is extremely difli- 

 cult to conceive how they can know each others 

 proceedings. 



Heat is the great principle which animates in- 

 sects, and cold is the bane of their existence. 

 Heat has great influence in promoting the hatch- 

 ing ind maturing of the young brood in spring, 

 by which a cokmy ia rendered mfore uunreroud. 



Query. — Can beesbe Avintered to advantage 

 in a house buil t as follows: Walls of plank, with 

 eighteen inches of saw dust between them? If 

 so, how many stocks in a room twelve feet 

 square, eight feet high, Avell ventilated, in total 

 darkness, with eighteen inches of sawdust on 

 floor and in ceiling? P. W. 



Carthage, Ind. 



[We thinkthat stocks in good condition, when 

 introduced, would winter well in such a reposi- 

 tory. The room would probably accommodate 

 sixty stocks, if properly placed. We cannot 

 speak from any experience of our own of this 

 mode of wintering bees, having always kept 

 our own stocks on their summer stands the 

 year round. ] 



It seems to be a matter of some doubt and un- 

 certainty whether bees enjoy the sense of hear- 

 ing; but their organs of sight appear to be very 

 perfect, espocrally as rospectB distant dbjects. 



