1318 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Dec 15 



these bees arc once angered they make an 

 attack with all fnry. Their lightning-like 

 sallies are certain tn scare one, as the pain- 

 ful stings of the raellifera under such con- 

 ditions are surely remembered. The bite 

 of the melipona is not painful ; in fact, they 

 car, not cut the tenderest skin ; but they pinch 

 and cling with the tenacity of a bulldog, and 

 do not hesitate to attack anything. How- 

 ever, these bees are not easily aroused, and 

 attack only when their nest is broken. They 

 are, indeed, extremely docile. 



One strange thing about the melipona is 

 that the bee-men have failed to discover 

 drones in the nest. All of the family Apidce 

 have what corresponds to the queen, drone, 

 and worker of the honey-bee, so the stingless 

 bee can be ifo exception. However, the life 

 habits of the different genera are not alike 

 in many details. The drones of some of the 

 varieties of the melipona are reared at long 

 intervals under some special conditions. The 

 drone of this large melipona no doubt exists, 

 hut has so far escaped the notice of the bee- 

 keeping fraternity. Only long scientific in- 

 vestigation can probably clear this point. An- 

 other strange thing is about swarms. Like 

 drones, these melipona seem to be non- 

 swarming. But how do they increase? The 

 natives know enough to increase them by 

 simply dividing; but how they increase nat- 

 urally still remains for the patient inves- 

 tigator, and he will doubtless bring to light 

 some interesting facts. 



The nests of the melipona are radically 

 different from those of the mellifera. Their 

 construction seems to be something of a 

 hybrid between the honey-bee and the bumble- 

 bee. The color of the brood-comb is some- 

 thing like that of the bumble-bee, being 

 light brown in color, tough and fibrous. The 

 combs are built in parallel tiers held apart 

 by columns of wax. The cells are con- 

 structed of a shape similar to that of the mel- 

 lifera, but in only one layer, like that of a 

 wasp, and not in double sfts with a com- 

 mon base as with the honey-bee. The honey 

 and pollen are not stored in the brood- 

 combs, but separately in large egg-shaped 

 cells scattered along the edges of the brood. 

 These cells are quite large, and hold con- 

 siderable quantities of honey or pollen. The 

 brood-rearing of the melipona, too, is dif- 

 ferent from that of the mellifera. The brood- 

 cell is first filled with a mixture of horey 

 and pollen, then the egg is laid on tcp of 

 this mass, and the cell is sealed. The neces- 

 sity of this is seen by the shape of the ab- 

 domen of the melipona queen, which would 

 not allow of the laying of the egg in the bot- 

 tom of the cells as in the case of the mel- 

 lifera. As to the time taken to develop 

 a perfect worker or queen I can not say, 

 this being another point that remains to be 

 investigated. 



It is a self-evident fact that a stingless 

 bee would be of untold value providing its 

 honey-gathering capacities were as good as 

 those of the mellifera. Burbank has bred 



the spine from the cacti, and will in time 

 make the desert blossom as the rose. The 

 man who breeds the sting from the bee will 

 make the air hum with bees where no bee 

 Hew before. 



The large melipona which I have illustrated 

 is one of a great genus found in Mexico 

 south to Argentina. A large melipona was 

 domesticated by that great nation of Incas of 

 South America long centuries before the 

 Spanish Conquest. It may be that we shall 

 find a bee more highly developed than the 

 one we now have, in the little-known cen- 

 tral Andes region, where this ancient civili- 

 zation made its home. I am doubtless op- 

 timistic regarding these melipona. Many 

 consider them absolutely worthless as a 

 commercial asset. I accord them but little 

 value as yet. 



Some others of them are large enough to 

 receive attention from the bee-keeper. The 

 small stingless bee found commonly in Cuba 

 is the most familiar. Reports come from 

 Mexico of a large green bee and another 

 black bee. From South America comes the 

 report of a white bee. I have yet to ob- 

 tain authentic information regarding these. 

 Some hope to find - a still larger bee than is 

 now known, and there is no reason why such 

 should - ■ * exist. The fact is, the genus is 

 comparativ'el)' unknown. Indeed, such scien- 

 tific data have been gathered, but it is very 

 scattered, and would take months of labor 

 and waiting to present in form to the bee- 

 keeper such as would be of interest and 

 value. 



I am indebted to Mr. W. K. Morrison, 

 of Porto Rico, for the specimens of the large 

 melipona reproduced here. Mr. Morrison 

 deserves much praise for the discovery of 

 tl'iis large melipona, which to date is the 

 best of its kind known. He obtained these 

 bees only after long waiting and a con- 

 siderable personal risk. I am also indebted 

 to Prof. T. S. Hine, of the Ohio State Uni- 

 versity, for aid in making the micro-photos 

 and for information on this subject. 



ALEXANDER'S APIARY; THE MAN, THE 

 LOCATION, THE METHOD. 



Th: Observations Made During a Visit Taken 

 in the Interest of Gleanings. 



BY D. EVERETT LYON, PH.D. 



Until a year or two ago it was unknown to 

 the bee-keeping world that the largest apiary 

 in the United States is located at Delanson, 

 N. Y., and that its owner is E. W. Alexander. 



Most of us had learned to look upon Cali- 

 fornia and Colorado as the land of big things, 

 especially in the line of apiaries ; but we 

 awakened one morning to the fact that the 

 largest apiary located in one yard is that of 

 E. W. Alexander. We learned that in his 

 home yard were 750 colonies, and that last 



