1921 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



399 



I found a certain number of first 

 drafts of letters addressed to Miss 

 Eliza De Portes, at Bois d'Kly, near 

 Grassier. Having obtained informa- 

 tion from a friend of the family, I 

 learned that the young lady corres- 

 pondent of Huber had become Mrs. 

 De Watteville, and that she was resid- 

 ing at Berne. 



This venerable lady, now more 

 than octogenarian, was kind enoujrh 

 to loan me the entire collection of 

 those letters, found in a volume of 

 manuscript, and sent with the parcel 

 the following words, which I take the 

 liberty of publishing: 



"My niece, who is returning to 

 Bois d'Ely, is kind enough no bring 

 to you the letters of my friend and 

 venerated master, Mr. Huber, of 

 which I have copied a great number 

 in order to make them more easy to 

 read. You may keep them as long as 

 you desire, and may use theiP freely 

 for your magazine. I will bo happy 

 if they can inspire a taste for nat- 

 ural histoi-y, together with .i simple 

 and fervent piety." 



In all those letters, the striking 

 fact is the religious sentiment of 

 Huber, his conscientious spirit, his 

 constant desire of giving credit to 

 his predecessors and his skill in di- 

 recting and understanding the experi- 

 ments of his helpers. "I im more 

 certain than you are of what I am 

 telling you," said he to De Cindolle, 

 "for you publish that which your 

 own eyes alone have seen, while I 

 take the average of several testimoni- 

 als." 



It would be difficult to show 

 greater philosophy and greater resig- 

 nation to one's infirmity. 



We may admire, also, the convic- 

 tion and clearness of his style, es- 

 pecially in the "New Observations," 

 for we must not forget that he was an 

 octogenarian when he wrote to Miss 

 De Portes, and that his dictation was 

 through two inferior clerks at least: 

 the one to whom he dictated the let- 

 ters and the one who copied them for 

 the bound manuscript. 



One was astonished at all that Hu- 

 ber had discovered; one will be much 

 more so after reading these letters, 

 in which new views and the very best 

 practical suggestions abound. After 

 him, little has been discovered outside 

 of parthenogenesis; his obsei-vations 

 were so precise and so positive that 

 all the modern works, however con- 

 siderable, have only proven i follow- 

 ing of his and a confirmation of his, 

 without amending them. For this 

 reason, I believe that the publication 

 of his unedited correspondei ce will 

 be welcomed with lively interest by 

 beekeepers in all countries, and I 

 here republish the expressio.i of my 

 hearty thanks to Mrs. De Watteville, 

 the Count De Loche, Mr. Dc Molin, 

 and Mr. Edmond Pictet for their 

 kindness in entrusting to my care, for 

 publication, the unedited writings of 

 the great observer of the bees. 



Edouard Bertrand (1897). 

 (To be Continued. 



(In our next issue will appear the 

 first of the letters written by Huber 

 to Miss Eliza De Portes. These let- 

 ters give a fascinating account of the 

 observations of the g:reat naturalist) . 



DO BEES HEAR? 



By E. M. Barteau 



So far as I am aware, the only af- 

 firmative evidence that bees hear is 

 based on the fact of the "piping" and 

 "quahking" of the emerged and un- 

 emerged virgins, respectively. 



If it could definitely be proven that 

 these pipings, etc., were challenges 

 and answers, it would be further cor- 

 roborative proof that bees actually 

 hear. 



Isn't it a fair asumption that these 

 cries of the young queens are their 

 even'song, like the note of the whip- 

 poorwill and the peeping of frogs at 

 dusk? 



Don't wo assume the "challenge 

 and answer" of the queens, because 

 of their known antagonism? 



Mr. Holterman (page 179, May) 

 says: "I have had no doubt that a 

 pan, or any other noise that would 

 drown the sound of the queen flying, 

 would bring the bees down." 



Isn't it a little more likely that the 

 bees are cognizant of the queen's 

 presence by her odor? 



We all know now fond the bees are 

 of the hand that has just held a 

 queen, and how quickly they locate a 

 cage that has lately contained a 

 queen, if only for a few minutes. 



Isn't it probable that a swarm, 

 when traveling, maintains its ellip- 

 tical mode of flight in order that the 

 bees be continually brought to the 

 leeward of the queen and thus be 

 sure of her presence — more likely by 

 scent than by sound? 



The queenless swarm does not usu- 

 ally cluster; if it does, it soon breaks 

 and returns. Can it discover its 

 queenless condition, when clustered, 

 bv the noise of the queen's flight? 



Let's attribute it to odor until a 

 more satisfactoi-y answer is given. 



As stated above, the queenless 

 swarm usually returns to its hive 

 without clustering. 



If you, my dear Mr. Hoiterman, 

 can succeed in "dishpanning" a 

 queen-right swarm into returning to 

 its hive, we will surely take our hats 

 off to you. 



New York. 



(On this subject it may be inter- 

 esting to read the explanations Huber 

 gave, about a hundred years ago, con- 

 cerning the piping and quahking of 

 the queens. He wrote of a young 

 queen about to hatch: 



"We could discern that the silk of 

 the cocoon was cut circularly, a line 

 and a half from the extremity; but 

 the bees being unwilling that she 

 should quit her cell, had soldered the 

 covering to it with some particles of 

 wax. What seemed most singular 

 was, this female emitting a very dis- 

 tinct sound or clacking, from her 

 prison, which became still more auai- 

 ble in the evening, and even consisted 

 of several monotonous notes in rapid 

 succession." 



A littlo farther along he wrote: 



"The first queen-cell opened on the 

 9th. Its young queen was lively, slen- 

 der and of brown color 



When she approached the other royal 

 cells, the bees on guard pulled, bit her 

 and chased her away ; their irritation 



seemed to be greatly excited against 

 her, and she enjoyed tranquillity only 

 when at a considerable distance from 

 those cells. This proceeding was fre- 

 quently repeated through the day. 

 She twice emitted the sound ; standing, 

 while doing so, with her thorax 

 against a comb, and her wings 

 crossed on her back, in motion, but 

 without being unfolded or farther 

 opened. Whatever might be the 

 cause of her assuming this attitude, 

 the bees were affected by it; all hung 

 down their heads and remained mo- 

 tionless 



"The queen confined in the second 

 cell, which she had not yet left, was 

 heard to pipe several times. . . ." 



Surely this piping and quahking is 

 a mode of expressing their anger or 

 restlessness. We hear it often in 

 cages of queens that are being for- 

 warded by mail. Whether the bees 

 have oi-gans of hearing, or not, this 

 indicates that they are more or less 

 affected by the noise produced by 

 angry queens. — Editor.) 



DEEP BROOD CHAMBERS 



As the end of the season approaches 

 and consideration of wintering re- 

 quirements intrude upon us, there 

 arises a realization of the rather in- 

 compatible conditions which the bee- 

 keeper (and the bees) have to face. 



Every intelligent beekeeper appreci- 

 ates the benefits (aye, the necessity) 

 of having a host of young bees as late 

 in the fall as possible, if spring dwin- 

 dling is to be avoided; and on the 

 other, a sufficiency of winter stores is 

 indispensable. If the combs are oc- 

 cupied with brood at this time, as is 

 desirable, what about space fo- ample 

 winter stores? The shallow super of 

 honey which is often advised to be 

 left on top cannot serve the purpose 

 as effectively as a store of honey in 

 the brood chamber, more in accord 

 with Nature's methods. 



Here is one of the strong.-^st argu- 

 ments for a deeper brood chamber. 

 It is really regrettable that beekeep- 

 ing is yet hampered by the legacy of 

 comb-honey necessities and methods. 

 A deeper brood chamber is mentioned 

 as a means to secure greater capacity, 

 as such a change may be realized with 

 the least sacrifice of equipment and 

 with the least trouble. 



When compared with the brcodnest 

 as built by the bees when not limited 

 by conditions, the ordinary beehive 

 is woefully shallow. The movement 

 of the bees' cluster in winter is pretty 

 well understood, and it is only too 

 well known that the bees often starve 

 with stores near at hand, because 

 they may be unable to move the clus- 

 ter in a horizontal direction contrary 

 to their natural instinct. 



Therefore is it not better to advise 

 the beginners to start out with the 

 deeper brood chambers, and to urge 

 the deepening of hives already used'' 



Old combs are continuallv being 

 melted up; why not replace v-ith the 

 deeper frames, and add the proper 

 depth to the hive body? It is an 

 easy matter to add that depth. 



D. Queen, New Jersey. 



