178 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL AND GAZETTE. 



[From the Bienenzoitung.] 



Hermaphrodite Bees 



One morning earl}^ last summer I found at 

 the entrance of one of the hives in my apiary 

 two hermaphrodite bees, still alive, though too 

 young to be able to fly. These bees were dif- 

 ferently formed from any heretofore described 

 by observers, having the head and thorax of a 

 worker, and the abdomen of a perfect drone. 

 AVith every effort I was unable to discover the 

 queen which had produced these malformed 

 bees, nor could I find any more similar speci- 

 mens. 



I thence inferred that, under peculiar cir- 

 cumstances, even from a healthy queen, gene- 

 rally producing normal brood, otfspring of such 

 mixed characteristics may proceed. But how ? 

 or why ? I do not undertake to say. Still it 

 seems to me that the assumption of an insuffi- 

 cient infusion of spermatozon — that is, of a 

 quantity inadequate to effect the perfect trans- 

 formation of the germ from male to female 

 might serve as the basis of a satisfactory elu- 

 cidation of the mysterious fact. Beyond this I 

 shall not venture to go. 



I may add here that I have been fully re- 

 compensed for my sedulous attention to the cul- 

 tivation of the Italian bee, not only by securing 

 a large number of purely fertilized queens, but 

 by obtaining from my apiary, thus improved, 

 an increased supply of honey. My persevering 

 support and defence of this valuable variety of 

 the honey-bee has likewise resulted in overcom- 

 ing and removing the strong prepossessions 

 against it, which the Baron of Berlepsch has for 

 some years entertainad, growing out of certain 

 unsuccessful experiments. The Baron has at 

 last begun to Italianize the apiary established 

 by himself and Mr. Kalb, near Gotha. 



H. A. HoPF. . 



To ascertain whether the expectation of a 

 queen was sufficient to keep alive the instinct 

 and industry of the worker bees, Reaumur 

 placed in a glazed hive some royal cells con- 

 taining both grubs and pupas, and then intro- 

 duced about a thousand or fifteen hundred 

 workers and some drones. These workers, 

 which had been deprived of their queen, at first 

 destroyed some of the grubs in these cells, but 

 they clustered around two that Avere covered 

 in, as if to impart warmth to the pupce they 

 contained; and on the following day they began 

 to work upon the portions of comb with which 

 he had supplied them, in order to fix and leng- 

 then them. For tAvo or three days the work 

 went on very leisurely, but afterwards their 

 labors assumed their usual character of inde- 

 fatigable industry. There is no difticulty, there- 

 fore, when a hive loses its sovereign, to supply 

 the bees with an object that will interest them, 

 and keep their works in progress. 



For the American Bee Gazette. 



Range of Bees' Plight. 



The following facts may be interesting to 

 your readers, as well as valuable to the his- 

 torian ; 



Having learned several years since that there 

 were no bees on " Kelley's Island" on Lake 

 Erie, in the spring of 1800 we established an 

 apiary of the Italians there for the purpose of 

 producing queens which were free from any 

 admixture Avith the natives; to test the advan- 

 tages of liberal feeding, and ascertain how far 

 they would go for feed. We established them 

 on one end of the Island, and in five days they 

 Avere found on the other end of the Island, 

 five-and-aludf (Oj) miles distant from our 

 apiary. 



As there were no Italians within twenty miles 

 of ours, they surely Avent the above distance 

 from our hives. Where there is an uninter- 

 cepted supply of flowers to call them ofi", we 

 know tiiey Avill fly the above distance, but it 

 may be considered questionable Avhether they 

 Avill fly more than three miles across loatcr for 

 feed. We have a case in point. "Johnson's 

 Island" (celebrated as a depot lor prisoners) is 

 about four miles distant from our apiary, across 

 the Avater; and none of our bees Avere seen 

 there during the season. 



This season Ave shall carry some of our bees 

 from " Kelley's Island" to " Johnson's Island" 

 in a hunting-box, and ascertain Avhether they 

 can be induced to go back across the water and 

 return for feed. 



We are satisfied of the importance of the 

 above facts, as connected Avith Italianizing or 

 overstocking an apiary. We expect to report 

 this matter at the close of the season in the 

 Journal. 



W. A. Flandebs. 



Shelby, Ohio, Feb. 10, 1807. 



■IM « II l» » ■■ 



For the American Bee Journal and Gazette. 



Bees— Their Bange of Plight. 



I have seen several articles in the Journal in 

 which the writers say bees Avill fly three and 

 four or more miles in search of honey. If the 

 common bee is referred to, I question the state- 

 ments, and Ijhink it would be very diflicult to 

 find them at Avork over tAvo miles from home. 



I am an old bee-hunter; have hunted bees 

 in the Avoods, more or less, nearly cA'ery year 

 for tAvenly years, and have never found the 

 native bee at AVork on floAvers, or succeeded in 

 getting it to work on honey, over tAvo miles, 

 very seldom more than a mile and a half, from 

 its home. 



Since keeping the Italians, I have frequently 

 liad them at work on honey three miles Irom 

 home; and think their being greater honey 

 gatherers is in part the result of their more ex- 

 tended range of flight. 



J. H. TOAVNLY. 



Tompkins, Jackson Co., Mich. 



