124 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



when it is finished. The stitching of a vol- 

 ume of Gleanings takes about an hour. 

 Making the cover will take about another; 

 so that, with making the sawcuts in the back, 

 stringing the cords on the frame, pasting, 

 etc., the time needed will probably not be 

 far from three hours. Of course this does 

 not include the time needed for the paste 



to dry; but you can be doing other things 

 in the mean time, so it is hardly fair to 

 count that. If you are a stickler for smooth 

 edges you can take the book to a printing- 

 shop and have it trimmed. This, if done at 

 all, should be done just after taking from 

 the stitching-frame. 

 Ashby, Minn. 



DIFFERENCE BETWEEN PIPING AND QUAHKING 



BY J. D. ELLIS 



I have been greatly interested in the 

 discussion between you and Dr. Miller in 

 regard to " quahking of queens." A few 

 years ago I was walking home from the 

 postoffice with a queen in my pocket. Sud- 

 denly near a swampy wood I heard what I 

 supposed was a duck quacking. It began 

 in loud slow tone, and ended in quick low 

 tone. I and my companion with me said. 

 " Wild ducks," and hunted for them. None 

 were found, and we proceeded. Further on 

 we heard the same sound again, and at once 

 we said " wild ducks." But this was in 

 high open field, and we were puzzled. Nei- 

 ther of us had ever heard that the queen or 

 any bee ever made a sound. After close 

 listening we discovered that the sound came 

 from my pocket. We took out the cage, 

 listened, and were astounded. We told it 

 around the country, but none Avould believe 

 us. You may call it " piping " if you wish, 

 but we certainly thought it was ducks. In 

 boyhood days I have often seen a partridge 

 " drumming." Standing on a log it flaps its 

 wings without moving, fii'st slow and loud, 

 but getting more rapid and faint. I have 

 wondex'ed if the queen does that. 



Montreal, Quebec. 



[The following letter from the editor to 

 Dr. Miller will explain : ] 



Dr. C. G. Miller : — I enclose a letter from Rev. J. 

 D. Ellis, Montreal, Quebec, in regard to the quahk- 

 ing of queens. This is the first instance I have 

 heard of where the quahking was made outside of 

 the queen-cell. He describes it so minutely and so 

 accurately that I am inclined to think the queen 

 made this so'und inside the cage. Did you ever 

 hear or know anything of this kind? I have always 

 been under the impression that the piping that you 

 refer to was a very different sound from the quahk- 

 ing. The quahking is more like the quacking of 

 ducks and the piping like zeep-zeep-zeep — that is to 

 say, sounds like a very minute, infinitesimal (if I 

 may so express it) squeal. The piping that I have 

 referred to, as queens answering each other bark 

 and forth in our office from separate queen-cages, 

 was the sound of the infinitesimal trumpet — a very 

 minute sound like some of the upper notes of a vio- 

 lin. The qualiking, as I understand it. would sound 

 like the coarser notes, the coarsest that the ordinary 



small violin can give; in fact, I believe that a good 

 violinist could produce either sound that the queen 

 gives. I think there may be some misunderstanding 

 between some of our subscribers and yourself and 

 myself as to the actual difference between quahking 

 and piping. If you have any circumlocution of 

 language that will describe either I hope you will 

 do so for the benefit of Mr. Ellis or any one else. 



E. R. Root. 



[To this Dr. Miller replies:] 



Note that Mr. J. D. Ellis says he had never 

 heard that the queen makes a?i2/ sound; so as this 

 was the first time he ever heard a sound from a 

 queen he would not discriminate closely between 

 piping and quahking. He calls the noise " quack- 

 ing," but he describes piping, for he says it began 

 in a slow tone and ended in a quick tone. The be- 

 ginning of quahking has always seemed to me as 

 if the queen were hurried, although I think the 

 tones are of equal length. Certainly I don't be- 

 lieve any one would think that quahking begins in 

 a slow tone, wliile piping does. 



I feel quite confident it was piping Mr. Ellis 

 heard, and that there is yet no proof that a queen 

 ever quahks outside a cell, although the difference is 

 not all — I think not mainly — made by being in or 

 out of a cell. 



If you will wait till next summer, and then listen 

 patiently some evening to quahking and piping, I 

 think you will say that quahking is distinctly dif- 

 ferent from piping, and that the difference is one 

 that cannot be made by confinement in a cell. 



After reading again your letter I will say that 

 you are right about the difference in the two 

 sounds, except when you speak of piping as being a 

 "minute sound." That would convey the impression 

 that it is a very faint sound. It is sharp, shrill, 

 piercing, but not at all minute, for I've heard it 

 distinctly several feet away from the hive. I think 

 you are right that a violin could well imitate both 

 sounds. When a queen begins quahking in reply 

 to the piping of another queen, the quahking, as 

 I remember it, seems louder than the piping, but 

 I doubt if it really is, for, as already said, I've 

 heard piping at quite a distance from the hive, and 

 I don't remember to have heard at the same dis- 

 tance the quahking reply. Your word " squeal " 

 is not a bad one to describe piping. 



C. C. Miller. 



[Has any one of our readers ever heard 

 a queen " quahk " outside of a queen-cell? 

 Piping never is the same as the sound of 

 Avild ducks in the distance. We still incline 

 to the opinion that Mr. Ellis actually heard 

 " quahking." — Ed.] 



