Tm AMERICAN 



* * * 



Apiculturist. 



A Journal Devoted to Practical Beekeeping. 



VOL. X. 



SEPTEMBER, 1892 



No. 



THE COMING BKE-AGAIN. 



In the August number of the Aptcul- 

 TURisr Rev. Mr. Langstroth in criticising 

 my article which appeared in the July 

 number, says: — '•! cannot agree with 

 friend Giles that there is any promising 

 outlook for breeding a race of stingless 

 bees. Rats, mice and most of the vermin 

 race love honey — so do birds of various 

 kinds — and bipeds of the human kind 

 are often tempted to steal it. 



Now what defence could such a puny 

 insect as a honey bee make against the 

 vast hosts of its sweetdoving enemies 

 if it hiid not such a formidable weapon 

 as its venomous sting?" 



This criticism is a very reasonable one, 

 for it is hard to understand how a sting- 

 less race of bees can maintain its ground 

 against the attacks of its enemies. But 

 if we can believe the accounts published 

 in the books (and 1 see no reason to 

 doubt the statements, because they are 

 evidently made by careful observers) 

 such races do exist in South America in 

 spite of the enemies which I should sup- 

 pose would be as numerous in the hot 

 climate in which they are found as they 

 would be in our cooler climate. More- 

 over a domesticated bee or a domesti- 

 cated animal of any kind does not re- 

 quire the same means of defence which 

 a wild animal of the same species re- 

 quires. For example — the wild boar is 

 provided with powerful tusks, which 

 are merely the canine teeth enormously 

 developed, but in the domestic hog these 

 tusks have been reduced in size by 

 breeding, because thev are no longer 



required for the purpose of defence. As 

 to the mice which Mr. Langstroth men- 

 tions as enemies of bees particularly to 

 be dreaded, they can be easily kept out 

 of the hives by means of perforated zinc. 



In reply to the statement in the Api- 

 culturist for June (page 83) that "the 

 plans of those beekeepers who expected 

 to rear large bees by cross mating the 

 smaller races with the Apis dorsata, are 

 upset, as it is understood that the queens 

 of this 'coming bee' mate with their 

 drones in the evening." I would say 

 that if the bees of India have the habit 

 of flying in the evening, I presume it is 

 due to the fact that in their native coun- 

 try it is too hot for the bees to fly out 

 in the middle of the day. A friend of 

 mine who lived several years in Ceylon 

 told me that the bees there do not go 

 out to gather honey during the hours of 

 intense heat in the middle of the day. 

 It would not be strange if their habits 

 should be altered in our climate. I am 

 inclined to believe that if the drones 

 were reared in the same hives with the 

 queens which were to be fertilized, they 

 would instinctively fly out at the time 

 when the queens were ready for the 

 mating trip. 



Even if it should turn out that the 

 drones from India would not fly out at 

 the same time with the queens of our 

 common races, and if the South Ameri- 

 can drones should have the same habit 

 of flight in the evening, since they also 

 come from a hot climate, there would 

 still be two possible ways of securing a 

 cross between the races. One of these 

 (133) 



