14 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



Von Rausclienfels introduces queens 

 " never-failingly " by using a wax cage, 

 which he makes by warming a piece of 

 foundation ( doubled if thin ) 2^ inches 

 long and a suitable width, and wrapping 

 it around a lead pencil. The upper end 

 is closed by pinching so as to terminate 

 in a round form; then the pancil is with- 

 drawn, and two or three little holes made 

 with the point in the rounded end, so as 

 to give the queen air and allow the bees 

 to feed her. The queen is then made to 

 crawl in head first. When she has reach- 

 ed the upper end, the lower part is pinch- 

 ed nearly an inch from the lower end, 

 bent at right angles at that point, and the 

 cage fastened to a top-bar or in a comb 

 aparture in the center of the brood-nest, 

 and the next comb carefully brought ixp 

 close. 



B. Rietsche has invented a cheap little 

 spirit-lamp for fastening foundation by 

 melted wax, which is ready for use in 

 half a minute after lighting, and melts 

 only just enough wax for the purpose. 

 Sheets so fastened never separate at their 

 junction with the wood. 



According to N. I/udwig, royal jelly is 

 nothing more than a nutriment, which 

 can not possibly be the cavise of such ex- 

 treme differences as exist between a queen 

 and a worker. It has not the slightest 

 effect, for example, on the drone larva. 

 (But Dr. Murdock, of Florida, would sa}- 

 it has just such an effect, since he at- 

 tributes part of his success in rearing 

 large bees to the fact that his drones were 

 fed with royal jelly in their larval state. ) 

 Herr Ludwig puts forth three proposi- 

 tions. First, ever)- fertilized egg has 

 two "rudiments" { Ajilagen — a word 

 troublesome to translate, much used in 

 German biology), i. e., two arrangements 

 pre-established by nature, by which it is 

 made possible that sometimes a com- 

 plete worker is developed, sometimes a 

 complete queen. Second, the "rudi- 

 ment " of the worker is such that the 

 natural development of the egg, without 

 the presence of food, results in a worker 

 larva. Third, the " rudiment " of the 



queen remains latent until called forth by 

 the stimulant of royal food, which can 

 act only on the hatched larva. The 

 ro3-al jelly only excites what is already 

 present. He denies having said that an 

 egii' in a queen-cell can not be developed 

 into a worker, but does contend that, 

 when once the rudiment of a queen is 

 aroused to activity in a. la ti'a (which can 

 take place at any period of the larval 

 existence, from the first to the sixth day), 

 such a larva can never develop into a 

 worker, however brief may have been the 

 action of the food which is the subordi- 

 nate cause. His theory is disputed by 

 several. ( If true, it would be incorrect 

 to speak of queens reared from old work- 

 er larvae as " about half workers " — the}' 

 would be simply runt queens. ) 



In a su1:)sequent issue, Herr Reepen 

 points out that the theory is not original 

 with Ludwig, but has alwaj^s been ex- 

 pressly stated and applied to the bee by 

 Weismann, the well-known biologist; 

 with whom, however, most other biolo- 

 gists do not agree. 



Dr. ganger's determination of the con- 

 stituent parts of a bee's poison-sac results 

 thus: I. Formic acid (not the poison); 

 2. A volatile body, the cause of the aro- 

 matic odor; 3. Inorganic substances (mu- 

 riatic acid, phosphoric acid, carbonate of 

 soda, lime ); 4. Albumen in solution 

 (about 30 per cent); 5. The specific poi- 

 son, closely resembling that of vipers and 

 rattlesnakes. (Compare the alcohol cure 

 for injurious results of bee-stings, giv- 

 en in Nov. issue. ) Major Beck, who 

 gives this information, suggests that an 

 antidote to the occasionally serious re- 

 sults of a bee-sting might be procured in 

 the same manner as the French investi- 

 gator Calmette procured a blood-serum 

 which is an antidote for snake-bites, by 

 systematically poisoning rabbits. 



Dknver, Colo. Nov. 24, 1897. 



Xc.vt month's Revieic will contain an 

 excellent article on out-apiaries, by a neiv 

 contributor; and the frontispiece will shoiu 

 one of his out-apiaries — a beautiful view. 



