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THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Aug. 12, 



as those ot Apis indica, but with the help of smoUe are not dif- 

 ficult to deal with. Whilst uiaiiipulating I have noticed Apis 

 flava to rob from Apis iudica ; and I have seen Apis indica try- 

 ing to rob from Apis llava, but I have not found Apis dorsata, 

 or any wasp out here, trying to rob, tho Apisdorsata frequent- 

 ly comes to drink close to my colonies of Apis Indica. 



Malays, Chinese, Klings and Europeans here all give bees 

 a wide berth. Dyaks alone keep them. Their knowledge of 

 their habits is much like that of the old Romans ; they talk of 

 the Rajah, tho probably few have seen her. The drones they 

 call badorken, but have no idea that they are the males, or 

 that the rajah lays eggs. 



A nest of dorsata the Dyaks highly value. They eat the 

 brood, but sell the wax, and the honey, too, if they can, to Ma- 

 lays, who trade up the river. They take the nests by build- 

 ing ladders up the tree or cliff. Ascending these on a moon- 

 less night, they hold a torch beneath the nest and drive off the 

 bewildered bees before cutting down the comb. Next day the 

 bees leave the place and try their fortunes elsewhere. There 

 Is a right of ownership of nests on favorite trees or cliffs. Col- 

 onies of Apis indica they keep in hives made of bark, or hollow 

 logs of wood, narrow, but two to three feet long, with the en- 

 trance in the middle suspended lengthwise from the floors of 

 their houses, which are raised many feet from the ground on 

 poles. They take the hooey and brood at night, driving the 

 bees out of their hives by means of smoke. Next day the bees 

 leave the place. Apis flava they seldom put in hives, for they 

 say it gives less honey and brood than Apis indica. Apis flo- 

 rea I believe they usually avoid. 



The Malays call Apis fJorea " Peniangat," a word which is 

 applied to small social wasps also, and is their name for the 

 sting of an insect. The Dyak name is"Titi," which is also 

 used for small solitary bees. Apis dorsata is called by Malays 

 " Lanye ;" by Dyaks, " Bunyee." Dyaks cannct pronounce 

 " L" except at the end of a word, so when speaking Malay 

 they say " Ranyee." Apis indica is called by Dyaks "-Ne- 

 waan," or often up other rivers, ''Ranewaan." The proper 

 Malay name is "Lebah," but I have not heard it used here, 

 the Malays commonly using the Dyak name. Apis flava is 

 distinguisht by Dyaks as " Newaan pschear" (?), or the "yel- 

 low Newaan.'' — British Bee Journal. 



Sarawak, January. 



Influence of Pollen upon Size, Form, Color and 

 Flavor of Fruits. 



BY PROF. J. C. WHITTEN. 



{Head before tlie Missouri State Jlortieultiiral Soeietij.) 



Before considering the subject of pollination, it is neces- 

 sary to get clearly in mind the relation and arrangement of 

 the different parts of the flower. 



The ordinary complete flower is Composed of calyx, corol- 

 la, stamens, and pistils, in the order named. The apple flower 

 Is a good representative. The calyx is-the green, outer cup. 

 It is the cover of the unopened bud and expands as the flower 

 opens, into five parts, or sepals. Just within the calyx is the 

 carolla, consisting of five pink petals. This is the most con- 

 spicuous and ornamental part of the flower. Just within the 

 corolla are the essential or reproductive organs. They consist 

 of about twenty s'amens, and a five-parted pistil. The sta- 

 mens are slender filaments, surmounted each by a little sack 

 containing the pollen. These are the male organs. The pis- 

 til is the central, female organ of the flower. Jt consists of a 

 five-celled ovary, bearing the undeveliiped seeds, and five 

 thread-like styles, arising from It, and terminating each in a 

 fleshy surface, called the stigma. Some plants do not produce 

 both .'■tamensand pistils in the same flower. In the Indian 

 corn the pistils are the silk at the ear, while the stamens are 

 borne in the tassels at the top of the plant. Our pine trees 

 bear two classes of little cones, or flowers, in spring. One 

 kind bears the stamen, and is shed ofl' after the pollen has been 

 produced. The other kind bears the pistils, and, after being 

 acted upon by the pollen of the male cones, develops into the 

 large cone from which we secure the seed. Other plants, like 

 the box-elder, soft maple, persimmon and Cottonwood bear the 

 dlflferent sexes upon separate individuals. This is also the case 

 with many varieties of strawberries. The ornamental corolla 

 Is wanting In many flowers, so also may bo the calyx. Each 

 species, however, must .ilways produce stamens and pistils, 

 cither In the same, or in different flowers. These, being tho 

 reproductive organs of the plant, are as essential to the pro- 

 duction of fruit and seeds, as are the two sexes essential to re- 

 production In the animal kingdom. 



Tho existence of sex, in plants, has long been known. 

 Vague hints of it occur even In the writings of Greek and Ro- 



man authors. It was not until about two-hundred years ago, 

 however, that its existence became clearly defined. Even then, 

 this view was much disputed, and it was not until the collec- 

 tion of proofs of the sexuality of plant*, given by Linnaeus, in 

 1735, that the question became a-settled one. 



When it first became known that pollination in plants was 

 a necessity for the production of seed, very vague ideas pre- 

 vailed as to how the pollen was carried from the stamens to 

 the pistils. This, at first, excited little more tho'ight than the 

 mere idea that the pollen simply fell on the pistils. When it 

 was considered that in some cases, the stamens and pistils are 

 borne on separate plants a new question arose, as to how the 

 pollen was transferred over such great distances. It was 

 found that pistillate plants, growing at a distance from any 

 stamen-bearing plants of the same kind, frequently produced 

 seed. The agency by which the pollen was transferred in 

 such cases, was, at first, ascribed to the wind. A- little later it 

 was suggested that, since some flowers contain honey, and are 

 visited by bees, the insects might be of some use in pollina- 

 tion. It was not thought, however, that this affected cross- 

 pollination, the idea being that they simply shook the pollen 

 from the stamens to the pistil, in an individual flower. 



The very important part, which insects take in the cross- 

 pollination of plants, was not much known until about one- 

 hundred years ago. At this time Sprengel was led to begin a 

 great number of observations, which showed not only that in- 

 sects carry pollen from flower to flower, but that tho bright 

 colors, scents, and singular forms of flowers serve the useful 

 purpose of guiding insects to their secreted honey. His keen 

 observations are of exceeding interest. He noticed the tiny 

 hairs beneath which honey lies hid, in a little wild geranium, 

 and found, that, while these hairs in no way hinder bees from 

 taking the honey, they effectually turned away the rain drops 

 from the nectaries. From this he reacht the conclusion that 

 the honey was secreted for the bees and that the rain was kept 

 out that they might have the nectar pure and unspoilt. 

 Noting the little yellow ring in the throat of the forget-me-not, 

 he conceived the idea that this might guide the insects on their 

 way to the honey. Upon further investigation he found that 

 the colored dots, lines and other figures surrounding or point- 

 ing toward the honey, actually do serve as honey-guides, or 

 path-finders for the insects. 



Thus perceiving that the insect is guided to the nectar, 

 once it has settled on the flower, he went still farther, and 

 reacht the wise conclusion that the bright-colored corolla it- 

 self is to guide the insect, from a distance to the flower. Thus 

 it is that the beauty of our peach, plum and apple blossoms 

 serves, not only to gladden the eye, but also to attract these 

 insect pollen-bearers. ITp to this time it was supposed that 

 honey was secreted by flowers, simply to furnish a food for in- 

 sects, and no one even supposed that the insects returned an 

 equivalent service to the flower. Sprengel, however, observed 

 that certain varieties of Iris are incapable of being pollinated 

 and of producing seed, if insects are excluded from them. This 

 led to his further discovery that a great many flowers depend 

 wholly upon insects for transferring the pollen. 



In all of Sprengle's work, it is perhaps remarkable that he 

 failed to learn the most important lesson which his years of 

 patient study and observation might have taught. While he 

 was well aware of the fact that insects frequently carry pollen 

 from flower to flower, he failed to learn that cross-pollination 

 is the njost important result of insect visits. This great truth 

 remained to bo first hinted at by Andrew Knight. After ex- 

 periiniMiting in self-fertilization and cross-fertilization in the 

 pea, and other plants. Knight, in 171l!», laid down the law 

 that ill no plant does self-fertilization continue for an unlimi- 

 ted number of generations. This theory attracted very little 

 attention until nearly fifty years ago when Darwin came for- 

 ward with his exhaustive experiments and studies, from which 

 he interpreted the natural law that " no organic being fertili- 

 zes itself for a perpetuity of generations, but a cross with an- 

 other individual is occasionally — perhaps at very long inter- 

 vals — indispensable," Darwin showed that in all the higher 

 forms of animals the sexes are Separate, in order that two dif- 

 ferent sources of blood, of relationship, may be combined In 

 the off-spring. He also showed what we now so generally ad- 

 mit, that in-breedIng diminishes strength and productiveness, 

 while a cross with a different strain increases both. 



[c; included next week ] 



Tlie MclJvoy Foul Brood Treatiueut Is 



given in Dr. Howard's pamphlet on " Foul I'.rood ; Its Natural 

 History and Rational Treatment." It is tho latest publication 

 on the subject, and should ho in the hands of every bee-keeper. 

 Price, 25 cents ; or clubbed with the Bee Journal for one year 

 —both for $1.10. 



