Dec 



761 



tracing the development of the apparatus of 

 the sting throws light on the disappearance 

 of the 11th and 12th dorsal and ventral 

 plates of the abdomen in the full-grown 

 worker bee. 



The few examples given will justify my 

 devoting so much space to this subject that 

 surely ought to claim the attention of all 

 progressive bee-keepers — not alone those of 

 the two continents that this department is 

 trying to bridge. 



Wendhausen, Hildeshain, Germany. 



THE PRESS-IN-COMB CAGE FOR INTRODUCING. 



A Scheme for Giving the Option of Either 

 Candy or the Press-in-comb-cage Plan of 

 Introducing; a Few Cautions. 



the 



BY F. W. L. SLADEN. 



Years ago I sent out all my queens ac- 

 companied by a wire-cloth cage for pressing 

 into the comb, and I still do so in the early 

 spring. I am mailing you a sample of the 

 package. You will see that the wire-cloth 

 cage covers one end, but not the top, of the 

 Benton cage, and is, therefore, much small- 

 er than the cage you illustrate. This I con- 

 sider an advantage, not only because less 

 wire cloth is used, but be- 

 cause it is often difficult to 

 find a sufficiently large area 

 of comb free from brood, or 

 much honey to receive a large 

 cage. Those who have intro- 

 duced many queens by the 

 plan of pressing a cage into 

 the comb know how impor- 

 tant it is to select a portion of 

 comb that is empty with the 

 exception of only one or two un- 

 sealed cells of honey; for if the cage 

 be pressed into much honey the 

 honey may trickle out of the wound 

 and drown the queen; while if it 

 encloses larvie these are injured, 

 and starve, or at least undergo a 

 long fast, although this does not 

 matter so much if the area is small. 

 It is also advantageous, and in the 

 early spring and autumn necessa- 

 ry, to cage the queen in the center 

 of the hive; and tough comb that 

 has been bred in is better than new 

 comb, which the bees sometimes 

 nibble away. All these require- 

 ments restrict the available space 

 for the cage. My cage, as you will 

 see, measures only ^4 inch by 1^; 

 and I find this is quite large enough 

 to hold the queen and also a just- 

 hatched worker from the hive to 

 which she is being introduced, 

 which I always prefer to place with her. 



You will see that the wire cloth of my 

 cage is made of comparatively stout wire, 

 and has a close mesh. This is an advan- 

 tage, because the cage then keeps its shape 

 well. I pull out a strand of wire all around 



the edge, vfhich makes it easy to press the 

 cage into the comb. 



It is necessary to warn queen-breeders not 

 to make the cage of tinned or galvanized 

 wire. The action of the metals causes salts 

 to form in time; and, although these salts 

 are produced in minute quantities only, 

 there is often enough to poison a queen con- 

 fined alone in the cage. The wire cloth I 

 use is made of ordinary iron wire, and I 

 paint it over with varnish to prevent it from 

 rusting. 



You will see that, to prevent the edges of 

 the wire cage from becoming entangled in 

 any thing in the mails, a band of stout cart- 

 ridge paper is tied around it with a piece of 

 fine string; and to prevent the wire cage 

 from dropping off the end of the Benton 

 cage, the address label is brought over the 

 end of the latter and nailed down on its un- 

 der side. This entails a slightly longer ad- 

 dress-label than would otherwise be used; 

 but this is an advantage, because it gives 

 more room for printing the directions for in- 

 troduction on the back of the label. 



I do not, however, think that long direc- 

 tions are necessary; and from many years' 

 experience I have found the following short 

 statement to be sufficient: 



DIRECTIONS FOR INTRODUCING THE QUEEN. 



First make sure that the colony to which you 



Inthoducin^ 



CACr.TNtfi SLIPS 

 C MAILIfVCt 



wish to introduce this queen is without a queen 

 already. A colony is in the most favorable condi- 

 tion for the introduction of a strange queen when 

 it has been queenless for about 24 hours. A square 

 wire-cloth cage will be found covering one end of 

 this box. Press this cage, with the queen alone in- 

 side it, into a tough portion of one of the middle 

 combs, and see that there is a little unsealed honey 



