600 



Gleanings in Bee Cu'ture 



etc.) he made of hard wood. It works to 

 perfection. He is extremely modest and re- 

 served, and in a great country would achieve 

 the greatest acknowledgment — a national 

 fame in the world of bee-keepers; and last, 

 but not least, money to "burn," which 

 would occur only if he had no other fuel for 

 the smoker; but the use of the latter is a 

 very rare event, because he handles the bees 

 in all his manipulations with bare hands 

 and face. He is a busy bee among bees, 

 and between him and the latter there seems 

 to exist a silent sympathy. 



The writer of this has asked him to mail 

 some drones with red eyes to Dr. E. F. 

 Phillips, of the Bureau of Entomology, 

 Washington, D. C, for the purpose of in- 

 vestigating the entomological aspect of the 

 case. As the Agricultural Department of 

 the United States is the leading and fore- 

 most factor in all inatters of an agricultural 

 nature, I am satisfied that he will try to 

 solve the strange puzzle — if such it may be — 

 that nature has presented by producing 

 drones with red eyes. 



Carniola, Austria. 



[This article was sent originally to Dr. 

 Phillips, who prepared the following reply: 

 —Ed.] 



The finding of drones with red eyes is not 

 usual; bvit, at the same time, such cases 

 have been frequently seen and recorded. 

 Drones with white eyes, and also with the 

 two compound eyes united at the top of the 

 head, are also recorded. 



Queens without pigment in the eyes have 

 also been reported. It is a well-known fact 

 that drones and queens are much more va- 

 riable in color and size than are the work- 

 ers, and many more abnormalities are seen 

 in their structure. 



In the development of the eye during the 

 pupse stage, the eye is first white. Red pig- 

 ment then appears, and finally the eye be- 

 comes practically black. This is due to the 

 fact that there are two kinds of pigment- 

 cells in the eye, and the ones forming red 

 pigment seem to develop more rapidly than 

 the cells producing black pigment. 



In the case of drones with white eyes, no 

 pigment is formed, and "albino" eyes are 

 the result. Drones with red eyes are, there- 

 fore, in a sense, "half albinos," in that only 

 one set of pigment-cells has developed color. 

 Whether the various races of bees differ in 

 the production of such variations is not 

 known. 



It is difficult to see how a variation of this 

 kind could be of value to the practical 

 breeder. If, accompanying the variation of 

 red eyes, there appeared to be an increase 

 in productiveness, the red eyes might be 

 used for the purpose of determining wheth- 

 er the queens had mated purely. However, 

 it is to be expected that such a character 

 would be "recessive" — that is, if such a 

 strain were crossed with normal individu- 

 als, in the first generation no red-eyed 

 drones would appear. 



Whether or not colonies with red-eyed 



drones are better than others, it would be 

 most interesting to have queens reared from 

 this colony and mated to red-eyed drones to 

 see whether this character is inherited. If 

 Mr. Strgar can find an isolated locality in 

 the Alps where such matings can be made 

 it will he an interesting experiment. In 

 view of the fact that the colony is a valua- 

 ble one as a breeder, he may be able to ( s- 

 tablish a better strain of Carniolans, even 

 though the red eyes may be lost. 



EVERY ONE HIS OWN INSPECTOR. 



Get " Beesy." 



BY D. E. LHOMMEDIEU. 



Let me encourage you a little on the hit 

 you make in editorial, page 448 — "Every 

 One an Inspector." You are right. Let me 

 illustrate. Several years ago ovir folks had 

 a steer worth $45 (now $90) , that broke its 

 neck, caused by the neighbors' dogs getting 

 into the feeding-yard and chasing the cattle 

 around. There was snow at the time, so we 

 could tell by their different tracks. We 

 went before the auditor and stated our case, 

 in order that we might recover damage mon- 

 ey caused by dogs. We stated that we and 

 all of our neighbors had been paying a dog 

 tax for years (and are still jiaying). Sequel: 

 Our claim was the only one that was not al- 

 lowed. 



What has this to do with bees and honey? 

 AVe saw that, in order to protect our stock, 

 we must get out the old shotgun, which we 

 did, and we found it the only safe way to go 

 on with our business. 



Moral. — To succeed with bee diseases, get 

 ovit your old shotgun (smoker) , and get 

 "beesy " with the bees, and not wait too 

 long for the inspector to do your work. 



Colo, Iowa. 



Leather-colored Italians vs. Common Black Bees 

 as Honey-gatherers. 



Here is the result of a test made late in the season 

 with Italian and black bees as honey-gatherers. By 

 August 1 I had taken off all my surplus-honey ar- 

 rangements; but on the 10th I noticed that bees were 

 bringing in honey from Spanish needle, so I put 

 back on the hives supers with sections, and let them 

 stay until this flow was over, which was the first 

 part of September; then I took off all sections from 

 both Italians and blacks (having about an equal 

 number of leach kind, or 45 colonies in all, in the 

 same location). I weighed the honey separately, 

 and found by actual weight that the Italians had 

 averaged U lbs. to the colony, and the blacks only 

 10 ounces to the colony. Of course this was a small 

 surplus for either kind; but considering the source, 

 it was good for the Italians, as the Spanish needle 

 was very limited in that locality, Grenada, Miss., 

 100 miles south of Memphis, Tenn. The Italians 

 had done better than the blacks in the earlier part 

 of the season; but I did not weigh the surplus of 

 either, and can not give the difference in poinids. 



This test put me decidedly in favor of the Ital- 

 ians, as the difference was great in their favor, and 

 shows their superiority over the blacks in that 

 part of the South, even in the latter part of the 

 season. 



Buena Vista, Texas. J. W. Lowry. 



