590 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



May 1 



seven months on rather hot and dry days, 

 and also, later on, on damp and cool ones. 



Provided with a small long-handled paint- 

 brush and some white paint, I sat down near 

 one of ihe drinking-places and put some lit- 

 tle dabs of paint on sundry bees. After 

 having thus spotted some twelve or fifteen 

 bees I waited to see if those same bees 

 would come back. In from five to twelve 

 minutes, there they were with their paint. 

 I have repeatedly tried this experiment on 

 cool as well as on hot and dry days. Of 

 course, the 

 quantity of 

 bees coming to 

 Che watering- 

 places was 

 much larger 

 on dry and hot 

 d lys than on 

 cool and damp 

 ones ; yet I 

 have seen 

 them every 

 day, even when 

 the tempera- 

 ture was only 

 5 ), and snow 

 cloud? passed 

 overhead. 



Now, what 

 h ive we to de- 

 duct from these 

 observations? 



1. That the 

 same bees 

 make repeat 

 ed trips to the 

 water. 



2. That not 

 all the flying 

 bees come for 

 water, but, as 

 I have con- 

 vinced myself, 

 go to the fields. 

 H ave we to 

 conclude that 

 the bees that 

 come for wa- 

 ter are nurses, 

 or especially 

 chosen bees for 

 this water-car- 

 rying? I have 

 seen these spot- 

 ted bees going 

 into the hives, 

 without any 

 attention being 

 paid to them. 

 Only a few 

 times I have 

 noticed that a 

 "guard" had, 

 apparently, a 

 "confab" with 

 such water- 

 carrier; but I 

 can not be sure 

 whether the 



guard got water from the river; neither 

 have I been able to ascertain whether these 

 water- carrying bees are only nurse- bees, 

 but I incline to that belief. 



I am much interested in this matter, and 

 shall follow it up the coming season with 

 one or two observatory hives. From what 

 I have seen so far I feel confident that the 

 bees carry the water in their honey- stomach 

 into the hives; but, of course, I do not know 

 they store it. Perhaps they use it for dilut- 

 ing the honey, etc. ; during the time when 



THE BIGELOW EDUCATIONAL HIVE. 



Complete hive with shields removed. Main hive in front consists of base, observation cham- 

 ber, super with four sections, and two "traveling hives " at top. In the rear is the 



flying-cage. 



