THE AMEEICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



117- 



How Do Bees Track Honey? 



In the second edition of " The Bee Flora of 

 Germany and Switzerland^''' its author, Di'. 

 Alefield, undertakes to show, hy very phiusible 

 reasoning, that bees, when in quest of honey or 

 pasturage, are guided, not by the sense of smell, 

 but by that of sight. 



Little as might be objected to this theory so 

 long as it regards only individual bees in search 

 of honey, there still remains the further query, 

 how do other bees become apprized of the 

 discovery, and by what means are they guided 

 to the spot where the blossoming field, or the 

 accessible honey-pot is found ? In my view, 

 Dr. Alefield should likewise have answered this 

 query ; and as he has not done so, I submit the 

 following solution : 



Every observant bee-keeper is aware that 

 the returning honey-laden bee is besniff'ed as 

 she drops on the alighting-board, or passes 

 through the crowd at the entrance of her hive, 

 and is at times even very ofliciously overhauled 

 and pertinaceously detained by the vigilant 

 guards there stationed. Whether or not she 

 gives up to them any portion of her gleanings, 

 matters not. She is examined and diligently 

 watched, and Avhen she re-issues, after storing 

 away her contributions to the common fund, 

 the guards, now on the '■''qui vire,^'' eagerly 

 brush the dust from their eyes with their front 

 feet, and keenly scruliiuze the direction of her 

 flight. Before losing sight of her, one of the 

 guards follows in hot haste ; a second pursues 

 in the same airy path, and is rapidly succeeded 

 by a third and fourth ; and thus, in due order 

 and succession, they arrive at the placer where 

 the first 'prospectincj explorer accidentally dis- 

 covered the coveted nectar or exposed honey- 

 pot. 



This view is sustained hy the facts — 



1. That the bees of one colony in an apiary 

 will sometimes long frequent a spot, or even 

 rob a hive, before those of a neighboring colony 

 will seem to be conscious of the game, or par- 

 ticipate in the spoil. There must consequently 

 be some mode by which the bees of the same 

 colony are conducted to the place frequented. 

 And the explanation I have given seems to be 

 the most simple and natural. 



2. That during the gathering season, the bees 

 do not leave their hive in masses in the morning, 

 but separately, one after another, in Indian 

 file, passing on in a sort of "goose march" in 

 the air to their journey's end; and the line of 

 march being once established, bees of other 

 colonies not yet conversant of the way may 

 join in the procession, thus reach the quarry, 

 and become patchers of the common spoil. 



July, 1866. Niehring. 



1^" We have received a copy of the " Bee- 

 keeper^ s TextBook,^''by H. A. King, of Nevada, 

 Ohio. It is a small and very neatly-printed 

 volume, with a full reference index, and thus 

 be conveniantly consulted by practical bee- 

 keepers on their operations. 



f^W The correspondence between the Revs. 

 Messrs. Langstroth and Kleine, contained in 

 the present number of the Bee Jouknal, cor- 

 roborates the opinion expressed by us in the 

 September number, that the ultimate test of the 

 purity of the Italian bees is not in the color or 

 makings of either queens or drones, but in those 

 of the workers. 



Bee Funeral. 



A correspondent of an English paper trans- 

 mits the following : 



"On Sunday morning last I had the pleasure 

 of witnessing a most interesting ceremony, 

 which I desire to record for the benefit of your 

 readers, and if Dr. Gumming, the Timeft' bee- 

 master, happens to be one of them, I would 

 particularly commend it to his notice. Whilst 

 Avalking with a friend in a garden near Falkirk, 

 we observed two bees issuing from one of the 

 hives, bearing between them the body of a 

 defunct comrade, with which they flew for a 

 distance of ten yards. We followed them 

 closely, and noted the care with which they 

 selected a convenient hole at the side of the 

 gravel walk— the tenderness with which they 

 committed the body, head downward, to the 

 earth — and the solicitude Avith which tlrey after- 

 ward pushed against it two little stones,'doubt- 

 less 'in memoriam.' Their task being ended, 

 they paused for about a minute, perhaps to 

 drop over the grave of their friend a sympathiz- 

 ing tear, Avhen they flew aAvay, and, as John 

 Bunyan says in his dream, ' I saw them no 

 more.' " 



Foulbrood. 



Mr. Herman has shown, in the Bienenzeitung 

 for 1864, No. 6, page 6-7, that foulbrootl can and 

 does originate from the use or consumption by 

 the bees of honey contaminated by verdigris. 

 When rendering honey I have never permitted 

 copper vessels to be used; but Avheu diluting 

 honey for feeding bees, I generally make use 

 of either a silver spoon or a small tin ladle. If 

 I happened to let the silver spoon lay in the 

 honey awhile, it would become quite black, 

 and if not soon cleaned, the remainder of honey 

 collected in the bowl of the spoon would become 

 surrounded with a black border. Silver, as is 

 Avell known, contains a portion of copper. The 

 same appearances presented themselves when 

 a tin ladle was used. Diluted honey appears lo 

 be a powerful solvent, and it is hence an in- 

 teresting query whuther greater caution be not 

 commendable in the use of silver and tin ves- 

 sels at. receptacles for honey intended for bee- 

 food. An old practical bee-keeper once assured 

 me that he always found that colonies fed with 

 lukewarm honey became foulbroody. He said 

 he sacrificed several colonies in experiments to 

 assure himself of the correctness of his observa- 

 tions ;_ but I cannot say Avith Avhat degree of 

 care his investigations Avere made. 



Graz, Semlitsch. 



