PKC'EMBKK 15, 1914 



985 



l)iult a piece of comb 

 as large as a soup- 

 plate. Many times I 

 have been told of a 

 fine swarm of bees at 

 a certain place, and on 

 y o i 11 g there found 

 Ihem to be hornets; 

 but he was so positive 

 that they were bees 

 that I went out July 

 l(i, and found that the 

 bees had located in a 

 small alder-tree about 

 four feet from the ce- 

 ment sidewalk, and 

 were busy at work 

 bringing in honey and 

 pollen. The comb was 

 attached to the branch- 

 es in a number of 

 pieces, and there were 

 several hatched queen- 

 cells in sight The bees 



and comb weighed 30 pounds. They were 

 remarkably gentle bees, and never offered 

 to sting while I was cutting otf the different 

 branches or photographing them. I put 

 them in a box with a wire-screen cover, and 

 brought them home on the street-car. 



I put a box with a West cell-protector 

 leading into the box in the tree; and when 

 I went back in the evening I had caught 

 most of the stray bees; and Avhat few were 

 still out I had no trouble in catching with 

 my fingers and putting in the box. 



The amount of work that they had done, 

 and the liatching of the cjueen-cells, was 

 remarkable to me, as we had not been hav- 

 ing either warm or fine weather, it having 

 been as follows: two fine clays; two rainy 

 days; one fine day; one dull and windy; 

 one showers during the day; two fine; one 

 rainy; one fine; one dull; one dull with rain 

 in evening; two fine days; tAvo days with 

 showers; two dull days i3receding the day 

 I got them. 



Fig. 1 shows one side of the colony with 

 a hatched queen-cell near the lower edge 

 about the center of the colony ; No. 2 the 

 other side of the colony, with queen-cells 

 between the sections of comb. No. 3 shows 

 the colony ready to shake in front of their 

 new home; No. 4, the bees shaken off and 

 safely housed; No. 5, ready to cut out the 

 comb and tie in frames; Nos. 6 and 7, taken 

 one week later; No. 6, looking for the 

 queen; No. 7, there she is! 



The photos were taken by myself by 

 treading on the cameia bulb attached to a 

 lung rubber tube. Note artistic pose. 



Tacoma, Wash., Aug. 11. 



The job completed, and the bees safe for winter. 



[Prof. H. A. Surface sent us a very fine 

 photograph of an outdoor colony last sum- 

 mer. A reproduction of it appears here- 

 with, showing the extensive comb-building 

 for a colony living out in the open. — Ed.] 



An outdoor colony having an unusual amount of 

 comb. Sent by Prof. H. A. Surface, Harrisburg, Pa. 

 Fhotoyraphed by Deek Lane. 



