104 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



of the comb to the other, as the comb can be 

 turned round. Great activity, quickness, and 

 agility are tlie general characteristics of the 

 natives of warm countries, and by this observ- 

 ation in natural liistory, the above-mentioned 

 peculiarity of the Egyptian bee may be ex- 

 plained. 



"During the hot season in Egvpt, the ther- 

 mometer stands at 26^ to 30- K." (92^ to 100= 

 F.) in Upper Egypt, even in the shade, 30° to 

 34= R. (100= toll0= F. ) Cairo has an average 

 temperature of 22.96= R. in June, 23.92° in 

 July, 23.92° in August, and 20.96° in Septem- 

 ber. One might suppose, therefore, that the 

 Egyptian bee would continue to fly out and to 

 work in Germany even in the greatest heat, 

 because it must have been accustomed to as 

 great a heat in its native country. Such, how- 

 ever, is not the case. Tlie Egyptian, like the 

 Northern and Italian bees, cease working when 

 the temperature of the interior of the hive has 

 reached about 30-' R., (100 F.,) and like them 

 they remain inactive, some on the combs and 

 inner walls of the hive, and some outside the 

 entrance. If the bees were by their activity 

 still more to increase the temperature of the 

 interior of the hive, the waxen combs must 

 soften and fall down. The inactivity of the 

 bee, therefore, during very great heat in the 

 interior of the hive, is evidently an effect of 

 instinct. In Egypt, also, the bee is inactive in. 

 the liot season, for the country is then bare of 

 flowers. 



" The Egyptian Bee in the Winter op 

 Germany. — In Egypt the bee is able almost 

 every day to hum jo3^fully through the air ; but 

 Germany has a winter in which the tempera- 

 ture notuufrequently falls to 20° or more below 

 zero of Reaumur, and the cold keeps the bee 

 imprisoned in its hive. Already before the 

 actual introduction of the Egyptian bee, the 

 question has been mooted whether the hive- 

 bee of Egypt could survive our severe winters. 

 From the beginning I believed the Egyjitian 

 bee capable of wintering here, and I supported 

 my opinion by the following passage from 'The 

 Acclimatization Journal' for 1864, page 40 : — 

 ' The genus Apis has a very peculiar nature — i. 

 e., all the species, including the different 

 varieties of Apis, have a similar and unchange- 

 able nature and manner of living.' Let us con- 

 sider, then, that the genus Apis lives in per- 

 manently organized societies, and in tliis forms 

 an exception among the class of insects. 

 Humble-bees' and wasps' societies are dissolved 

 in autumn ; the fertile females only hybernate 

 during winter, and survive till spring. Our 

 ants also certainly live in lasting communities, 

 but at about 1° R. ; they likewise hybernate, 

 and the genus Termes, which belongs to warm 

 climates, is not to be compared with the bee. 

 The bee does not hybernate, it only passes into 

 a state of rest in winter, which state is evidently 

 conditional upon the want of that degree of 

 Avarmth which is necessary for its activity. Any 

 organic cause for the winter's rest of our bee 

 does not exist, as it prospers equally well 

 between the tropics without any rest in Avinter. 

 The speciflc or personal temperature of an in- 

 dividual bee is very low indeed, yet the whole 



society in the hive produces a higher tempera- 

 ture, which may be felt. According to ex- 

 perience, the production and supply of animal 

 warmth is intimately connected with the pro- 

 cess of breathing and nutriment. The bee pos- 

 sesses a trachean system like no other insect 

 known to Leuckart {ride Yon Berlcpsch, ' The 

 Bee and Bee-keeping,' page 188.) The more 

 severely the bee is aUacked hx cold in winter, 

 the more food it consumes, and the more it ac- 

 celerates its breathing, until by actual humming 

 it produces that degree of warmth necessary for 

 its existence. Tlie extremity of the abdomens 

 of those bees wliich hang on the outside of the 

 cluster often come very near to the hoar frost 

 in the hive, whilst in the heart of the cluster 

 there are from 9° to 12° of warmth. '-^ It is 

 universally acknowledged that the lethargy into 

 which our bee falls in winter is contrary to its 

 nature. Likewise it cannot be disputed that the 

 winter of Germany is contrary to the nature of 

 the Egyptian bee ; it will, however, survive our 

 winter just as well and just as badly as our 

 Northern bee, if it be kept in hives which 

 afford shelter against too great cold. The genus 

 Apis belongs to the cosmopolites among ani- 

 mals, and is able to prosper in countries — the 

 seasons of which have an extreme climate. 



"Dr. Buory also states from experience, in 

 'The Acclimatization Journal,' (1863, pp. 295, 

 &c.,) that a transplantation of animals from 

 warmer to colder countries is more frequently 

 successful than unsuccessful. 



" The Egyptian stocks are quiet in winter. 

 During only the most severe cold (3d and 4th 

 of January,) they caused a low humming to be 

 heard, just like the German and Italian stocks. 

 It may also Avell be supposed that the trachean 

 system of the Egyptian bee will be strengthened 

 by a greater activity during our winter. On 

 the 16th of this month, (January, 1865,) the 

 bees of an Egyptian stock were flying quite 

 strongly at 4° in the shade, and 9° R. in the 

 sun, between 10 and 11 o'clock in the morning. 

 No bee got chilled, and no sign of dysentery 

 could be perceived. I could not suppress my 

 curiosity, and opened an Egj^ptian stock. 

 When 1 merely looked over the floor of the 

 hive I was greatly delighted, for but a few dead 

 bees lay there. The stock was perfectly healthy, 

 and the queen, with her abdomen full of eggs, 

 paraded the combs as if in summer. In two 

 hundred to three liundred cells, eggs and larvce 

 were found. To-day (January 28th,) at noon 

 some bees were seen at the entrance of all the 

 stocks, and in the Egyptian stocks also there is 

 as yet no trace of dysentery. These observations 

 speak strongly for a fortunate wintering of the 

 Egyptian bee." 



1 may here add that Herr Vogel's favorable 

 anticipations were completely verified. His 

 Egyptian protegees passed the ordeal of the 

 German winter of 1804-5 unscathed, and were 

 introduced into my apiary rather late the fol- 

 lowing summer, with what result will in due 

 course be related by — A Devonshire Bee- 

 keeper. 



[to be continued.] 



» SS to 59* Fahrenheit. 



