574 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Aug. 1. 



royal larvse during the entire five days ? In 

 other words, all worker larvte have royal jelly 

 for three days. I've often seen an extra 

 amount in worker-cells when larvae were 

 scarce, but never saw a cell half filled. Cowan 

 thinks with Wilkin that laying workers may 

 thus originate. [I do not see yet how R. 

 Wilkin knezv that the substance in the cells 

 was royal jelly or common larval food. Grant- 

 ing that they are one and the same thing for 

 the first three days, I would assume that it is 

 nothing more nor less than the milk with a 

 common worker grub. — Ed.] 



Reidenbach fed to bees diluted honey col- 

 ored deep red, killing the bees as soon as they 

 had taken a little. In most cases he foimd 

 not a trace of the colored honey in the honey- 

 sac, but in the chyle-stomach beyond, just as 

 if we should swallow directly into the intes- 

 tines without having any thing get into the 

 stomach. His experiment proves that field- 

 bees first supply their own wants, then fill the 

 rest in the honey-sac. [My observation is 

 almost directly the opposite of this. A num- 

 ber of years ago the bees were gathering the 

 juices from overripe raspberries on the bushes. 

 As these were the Cuthbert red, the juice was 

 of a pink color. I killed scores of bees just as 

 they came from the berries, and in every 

 instance I found the honey-sac filled with this 

 pink juice. There is a little trick in pulling 

 the bee apart without mutilating the honey- 

 sac. Grab the bee by the thorax, then by the 

 abdomen; give it a quick jerk, and the honey- 

 sac will be left clinging to the thorax, in 

 nine cases out of ten. I did not examine the 

 chyle-stomach, but I do know that tMe honey- 

 sacs were clear full, as the bees could hardly 

 fly. It is reasonable enough to suppose, how- 

 ever, that the field-bees would first supply 

 their own wants.— Ed.] 



You THINK, Mr. Editor, that color has 

 nothing to do with stirring up the fighting 

 qualities of bees, p. 538. I don't think, but I 

 knOiC that it has much to do with it "in this 

 locality." If bees are cross enough they'll 

 sting through white clothing ; but they'll 

 sting black when they'll not think of touch- 

 ing white, and hundreds of times I've seen 

 them keep up an attack on the head of a black 

 hat- pin in a white hat. A black hat-band is 

 much the same. [I can readily see how mad 

 bees might pay particular attention to a hat- 

 pin head. I have noticed that, when angry, 

 they will make a dart for one's eyes, for they 

 seem to know as well as we that this is the 

 tenderest part of our anatomy. Well, when 

 they see the glistening knob of a hat-pin they 

 will make a dive for that because of its resem- 

 blance to an eye. As I wear glasses constant- 

 ly, about two-thirds of the bees make a strike 

 for the glistening lens ; and about the next 

 minute they try some portion of my beard, 

 and there I smash them. If they do not 

 strike for my eyes they will go for my mouth. 

 A smart rub at just that m.oment "fixes" 

 them also. 



I have worn hats of different colors among 

 the bees, and I have never yet noticed that 

 they pay particular attention to the black; but 



possibly, doctor, your bees may be crosser 

 than ours. Will those who have hybrids or 

 cross bees please report on this point ? If it 

 is a fact that black is obnoxious to them, then 

 the sooner we settle it the better. — Ed.] 



Repi^ying to your footnote, page 538, Mr. 

 Editor, the only thing I happen to have at 

 hand about length of bees' tongues is a quo- 

 tation in Australian Bee Bulletin from Mr. 

 Rankin, of the Michigan Experiment Apiary. 

 He says the average lengths of tongues in 

 that vicinity are : Black, 4.2 millimeters ; 

 hybrid, 4.9 mm.; Italian, 5.3 mm.; bumble- 

 bee, 8.3 mm. " We made one direct cross, or 

 an in-cross of one colony, and the bees from 

 this cross have a tongue 5.5 mm., an increase 

 of 1 mm. over the parent colony." Ask D. 

 N. Ritchey for interesting facts. [How would 

 it do if the enterprising queen-breeders of 

 the country, instead of advertising five-banded 

 or golden-yellow bees, would advertise those 

 with long tongues ? The golden-yellow craze 

 never gave any better working bees ; but a 

 craze for bees with long tongues, or bees that 

 stand wintering well, would give us some- 

 thing of value. If there is a marked differ- 

 ence, and no mistake, in the length of bees' 

 tongues, then by all means let us give promi- 

 nence to it. The glossometer — there's the 

 rub. How would this do for a makeshift? 

 Cut a piece of wire cloth, and so arrange it 

 that it can be raised to various heights from a 

 sheet of glass having upon its surface a thin 

 film of honey. Now, then, to determine the 

 length of the bees' tongues, confine bees to 

 the wire cloth. After they are feeding, raise 

 the cloth to a point where they can just reach 

 it and no more. Now with a micrometer 

 measure the distance between the wire cloth 

 and the glass Of course, it will be necessary 

 to have the wire cloth of uniform surface or 

 the measurement would be inaccurate. — Ed.] 



FOUNDATION NOT ALWAYS PROFITABLE. 



Its Use a Convenience rather than a Profit; Deep- 

 Cell-Foundation Experiments. 



BY R. C. AIKIN. 



The question of the use of foundation is one 

 that is vitally connected with that of wax 

 secretion. In the second and third Musings 

 preceding this one, wax secretion was touched 

 upon to some extent. Just now, since the new 

 product, deep-cell or "drawn foundation," is 

 on trial, much interest is manifested in the 

 foundation question, and possibly no better 



