106 



Gleanings in bee culture 



Two bees with distended abdomens, making them look large, almost like a queen. 

 Photographed on Seed 23 plate; time, one minute. 



were substantially the same size ; but the 

 difference in the entire length, including the 

 abdomen, was very marked indeed. The 

 black shiny bee at the right looks more like 

 a diminutive drone than worker on account 

 of the round blunt ajipearance of the abdo- 

 men. The bee itself, however, did not look 

 quite so blunt as represented by the photo- 

 graph, for the tip of the abdomen was 

 turned down somewhat so that it did not 

 show plainly. 



SOME INTERESTING MALFORMATIONS. 



In one hive we found several very curi- 

 rious-looking bees running about on the 

 alighting-board. They Avere not making 

 any attempt to fly, especially the one in 

 particular which had no wings. The illus- 



tration shows three cripjDles that were alive 

 and apparently well when found. How 

 long they would have been permitted to 

 remain in the hive is hard to say. Some 

 of them were so badly twisted that they had 

 to turn around and look backward when 

 they wanted to walk ahead. 



There were no moths in the hive, no bur- 

 rowing-moth lan-ae thru the combs — noth- 

 ing, of the kind could be found to have 

 mutilated the bees. We found these bees, 

 however, just after a cold rainy spell when 

 the sun and clouds seemed to be quarreling 

 to see which could be boss the longer. The 

 temperature, moreover, was alternately hot 

 and cold. Perhaps the I'ather peculiar and 

 unsettled conditions caused the queen to 

 stai-t more brood than the nurse bees could 



Different sizes of worker bees from the same colony. Note that the abdomen of the first bee is longer 

 than the wings, while that of the second bee is shorter than the wings. The third bee was an old shiny one 

 — perhaps a robber. Photographed on Seed 23 plate; time, one minute. 



