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THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL AND GAZETTE. 



For the Americaa Bee Journal. [From the Bienenzeitung.] 



Cause of Colic. 



What is the cause of honey creating colic iu 

 some folks and not in others? {American Bee 

 Journal^ vol. 2, page 165.) 



There seem to be two prominent reasons why 

 honey, or that which honey contains, creates 

 colic or other deleterious effects on some per- 

 sons. 



First. The liouey may have been gathered 

 from poisonous plants. Of such there is rarely 

 enough gathered in any part of the north- 

 western States to have any bad effect. 



Second. The poison proceeding from the sting 

 of the bee. Do bees poison their own honey 

 or food ? Not usually or willingly. But the 

 manipulator causes them to doit by injudicious 

 management, or when, on cutting down a bee- 

 tree, the combs come together in their fall, 

 pressing the stings oitt of the bees, and the drop 

 of poison that is invariably on the point comes 

 in contact with the honey and mixes with it; 

 and if it touches the comb, it is ready to mix 

 with the honey in broken or open cells. In 

 taking boxes of honey from the bees, doit with- 

 out any sudden jar or the use of smoke, as either 

 will cause the bees to run their stings out; and 

 if the point containing the drop of honey touches 

 the comb, the side of the box, or the honey, it 

 is liable to mix. 



How long will the poison last in ten pounds 

 of honey and comb taken from a fallen tree ? 

 It will enrage a stock of bees if fed to them after 

 remaining from the tree fifteen days. It will 

 not annoy the bees after it is capped in the cells. 

 To purify ten pounds of such honey, break one 

 egg in a pint of sweet milk, stir it well, and 

 add the mixture to the honey; then boil and 

 skim it. 



Persons with a diseased stomach should eat 

 no honey, unless it is taken from the bees with 

 great care. If they want tliat kind of article as 

 a medicine, then I would recommend them to 

 get the pure article direct from the sac of the 

 bee. 



Persons may get used to the poison, or the 

 system become fortified against it, after eating 

 of it often, just as they get used to the poison 

 by being strong frequently. 



James M. Maiivin. 



St. Charles, Ills. 



What animals can be adduced, Avliich, like 

 the hive-bee, associating in societies, build re- 

 gular cities composed of cells formed with geo- 

 metrical precision, divided into dwellings 

 adapted to different orders of the society, and 

 store-houses for containing a supply of provi- 

 sions ? Even the erections of the beaver, and 

 the pensile dwelling of the tailor bird, must be 

 referred to a less elaborate instinct than that 

 which guides the procedures of these little in- 

 sects, the complexness and j'et perfection of 

 whose operations, when contrasteil witlitheiu- 

 siguiticance of the architect, have at all times 

 caused the reflecting observer to be lost iu 

 astoiiishmeut. Kirby. 



Tenacity of Life in Bee Larvse and 

 Queens. 



The late Mr. Donhoff, whose premature dis- 

 ease every intelligent bee-keeper may well de- 

 plore, furnished some exceedingly interesting 

 communications respecting the tenacity of life 

 manifested by the larvaj of the bee, and by the 

 mature insect. A somewhat detailed reference 

 to some of these may possibly serve as an in- 

 centive to investigations of a similar character. 



If the larva of a bee be removed from its cell 

 and preserved several days, it will speedily ex- 

 hibit motion on being placed in the warm rays 

 of the sun, or in a glass set in water of the tem- 

 perature of 80° or 85° F. Nay, which is still 

 more remarkable, if a larva be taken out of its 

 cell, and kept till it has changed color, and be- 

 come greyish-black, it Avill still retain life for 

 some time yet. If putrefaction has not already 

 advanced too far, this greyish-black larva being 

 exposed to the sun, a tremulous reflection ot 

 light will be displayed on the rings, resulting 

 from minute scarcely perceptible contractions 

 of the skin. Gradually these contractions grow 

 stronger, the rings are more rapidly moved, 

 and the head moves to and fro. 



Incredible as it seems, that a creature whose 

 juices are already putrescent, still survives, it 

 is nevertheless true in tlie case of the larvse of 

 ihe honey-bee. Numerous experiments have 

 conclusively demonstrated the truth of this, 

 though we can scarcely credit our own eyes 

 when an apparently putritying larva is thus 

 seen iu motion. 



The drones, too, are less able to endure cold 

 tlian the workers. Drone-brood Avill be killed 

 outright at a temperature in which worker- 

 brood will still survive and mature. Dr. Don- 

 hoff made various experiments with mature 

 drones. He placed a drone and a worker in a 

 box on a comb containing honey, setting the 

 box in his cellar. Next day the drone was 

 dead, but the worker lived three days longer. 

 He repeated the experiment three times. The 

 drone invariably died within twenty-four hours, 

 whereas the worker always survived several 

 days. 



He plaeed three boxes containing drones, 

 workers, and queens iu an ice-house. Three 

 hours thereafter he took out one of them. All 

 the workers and the queens revived within half 

 an hour after being brought out, but only a 

 portion of the drones. JSine hours later he took 

 out another box. All the workei's and queens 

 revived. All the drones were dead, except a 

 few which slightly moved their limbs and then 

 died. After sixteen hours he brought out the 

 third box. The workers and queens recovered, 

 but every drone was dead. 



So, likewise, drones are less able to Avilhstand 

 the effects of stupefying fumigation than woi'kers 

 or queens. Dr. Donhotf stupefied a colony with 

 tobacco-smoke, in order lo iuiroduce a queen. 

 The result was that all the drones— several thou- 

 sands in number — perished, while of the workers 

 only a few hundred died. Inclose a drone and 

 a worker in the hollow of the hand, and blow 



