THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



153 



more easily than the other kind but the 

 remedy is evident. 



WHY BEES DO NOT LOSE THEIR STINGS 

 IN STINGING ONE ANOTHER. 



' Dr. Miller (page 123 A. B. J.) gives as 

 the reason why bees do not lose their 

 stings when they sting one another that 

 they slide their stings into the spiracles 

 and so can withdraw them. I wonder if 

 that is one of the things he knows. At 

 all events, I suspect he is wrong. It is 

 not infrequently said that unless a bee 

 stings a person when she strikes him she 

 will not sting at all. This is nearly true. 

 She needs the impetus motion gives her, 

 or something to hold her to the work, as 

 hair or clothing. Sometimes she stings 

 without any of these helps, but it is then 

 generally a sHght prick, and she retains 

 her sting. But a slight prick given a bee 

 is sufficient. Neither clothing, hair nor 

 motion is needed to assist in piercing the 

 tender integuments that unite the horn- 

 like rings. When one bee is trying to 

 sting another, notice how carefully, al- 

 most tenderly, she feels, not for the spira- 

 cles, but for the opening between the 

 rings; and that she does not seem to tr>- to 

 sting hard. Notice, too, that not infre- 

 quently the bee receives the sting in the 

 neck where there are no spiracles. All 

 have noticed how quickly a colony in- 

 to whose hive a runaway swarm has come, 

 will despatch that swarm. It is incredi- 

 ble that the bees, in such a case, spend 

 any time in looking for spiracles. Then, 

 I suspect that the spiracles are not so 

 large but the barbs of .stings would cling 

 in them as fast as in any other part. 

 THE TIME OF PUTTING BEES INTO THE 

 CELLAR AND TAKING THEN OUT HAS 

 LITTLE INFLUENCE UPON SUCCESS- 

 FUL WINTERING. 

 Dr. Miller (A. B. J., 149) is still strug- 

 gling with the wintering question; par- 

 ticularly with reference to the best time 

 for putting the bees into the cellar and 

 for putting them out. He rests the en- 

 tire solution of the problem apparently 

 upon " cold " and length of confinement. 



The one thing he is bold enough to say he 

 knows is that if bees have a good flight 

 Nov. 15 they can stand the confinement 

 from that time. If I knew that I should 

 feel that I had no further cause for. anx- 

 iety about the wintering problem; for I can 

 easily control the temperature. But if 

 experience has taught me anything about 

 the matter, it is that the time of putting 

 in and out, within reasonable bounds, has 

 very little to do with success. I think I 

 can tell with much certainty before the 

 end of January how my bees are going to 

 come out in the spring; a time when I am 

 without any knowledge as to what the 

 length of the time of confinement is to be. 

 Occasionally I know that, if spring were 

 to come full fledged the first of February 

 and the bees were put out then, there 

 would be spring dwindling, and some- 

 times I know well at that time that they 

 could bear confinement in the cellar till 

 May I, and come out bright and strong. 

 More than this, if I could be informed 

 Nov. 15 as to the character of the stores 

 the bees have, I could tell at that time how 

 they would come out in the spring. So 

 far as I know, I was the first one to advo- 

 aite setting bees out early, but the purpose 

 I had in view was not to save the colonies 

 but to enable them to settle down and be 

 ready in good season for spring work. 

 The doctor's idea leads him into what I 

 esteem a serious error in the answer to a 

 question in the American Bee Journal, 

 page 183. He says: "If there coniesa wann 

 day and they don't seem inclined to wake 

 up at all it will certainly be better to take 

 them out for a fight than to let them stay 

 where they are and not fly at all If you 

 can get at the hives inside to pound on 

 them so as to stir up the bees on a warm 

 day it might be a good thing to do so," etc. 

 Locality must make a difference. Here, 

 when the bees sleep very quietly they 

 don't need a flight at all; when they need 

 a flight they are so restless that they 

 would fly out pell-mell if given an oppor- 

 tunity w'ith scarcely any reference to the 

 temperature. 



Lapeer, Mich,, April 8, 189S. 



