THE AMERICAN EEE JOURNAL. 



247 



excellent, but on turning over the 

 leaves, that whicli most excites atten- 

 tion is the large number of illustra- ( 

 tions. There are eight full page 

 plates, beside 71 figures scattered 

 throughout the, book. No one is likely 

 to imagine the exquisite delicacy of 

 these illustrations without seeing 

 them. They are, for the most part, 

 to show the anatomy of different parts 

 of the bee magnified 5 to 400 times. 

 Mr. Cheshire gives in these pages the 

 result of much painstaking labor as a 

 microscopist. But ninety-nine out of 

 every hundred bee-keepers will, like 

 myself, find much beyond the range 

 of their easy comprehension, and yet 

 I think there will arise some desire to 

 know more of it. 



One cannot help a feeling of regret 

 that such beautiful pages should be 

 marred by the unkindly spirit shown 

 toward Prof. Cook. Surely, the in- 

 terests of science do not demand the 

 least resemblance of any thing like an 

 exhibition of personal dislike. 



After speaking of the position of 

 the hive-bee in the animal world, and 

 giving its classification in the first 

 chapter, the second chapter gives the 

 economy of the hive- bee, including 

 development from the egg, larva and 

 pupa. Speaking of this development 

 the author says {page 24) " in some- 

 thing more tlian 12days from the time 

 of sealing, the transformations are 

 complete." Has this been verified by 

 others ? Ou the same page, speaking 

 of the just-hatching bee, he says, it 

 " bites at the door of its prison-house, 

 into which it soon carves a long, 

 curved slit. . . .and then, by a push, it 

 makes way for its emergency, the 

 head is advanced as at N, and a pale 

 but perfect bee walks into view." In 

 the many cases which have come 

 under my observation, it is not a sim- 

 ple cutting a slit then a single push 

 and out it comes, but after cutting a 

 slit the bee gives a push, finds more 

 room needed, cuts again, then pushes 

 again, and this may be repeated sev- 

 eral times before the bee emerges. It 

 may be said 1 am engaged in hair 

 splitting, and in an ordinary work I 

 should not notice this, but Mr. Che- 

 shire is very severe upon others who 

 are not strictly accurate in matters 

 apparently more difficult of exact ob- 

 servation than this. 



Chapter III treats of general struc- 

 ture, and Chapter IV of the nerve 

 system. After speaking of the brain 

 as showing intelligence superior to 

 other insects, he says, " As we pro- 

 ceed, I shall have more than once to 

 point out a misconception, which 

 would appear to be all but universal 

 amongst bee-keepers, and to show 

 that the queen is not superior to, but 

 greatly the inferior of the worker ; 

 and the brain bears evidence to this 

 position, as that of the queen is rela- 

 tively small, as is also that of the 

 drone." 



Chapter V treats of the digestive 

 systeLn, and Chapter VI of glands. 



Chapter VII tells about the tongue 

 and mouth parts, the wonderful 

 mechanism by which " the bee is 

 equipped to take advantage of all 

 sources of supply She can gulp down 

 big draughts, or sip a stream of nec- 



tar so fine that (iOO miles of it will, 

 when evaporated, store but a 1-pound 

 section-box." 



The next chapter treats of the 

 antennae, the organs of touch, smell- 

 ing and hearing. Think of 37,800 dis- 

 tinct organs in two antennae of the 

 drone ! This chapter treats also of 

 the eye with its thousands of facets. 



The thorax and legs form the sub- 

 ject of Chapter IX. Since reading 

 this book I think I can never again 

 look upon a bee climbing a smooth 

 surface without a feeling of profound 

 admiration. Imagine that a person 

 is trying to climb a wall by means of 

 his finger nails, and that whenever 

 the wall becomes so smooth that the 

 nails lose their hold, the resulting 

 closing of the fingers causing the in- 

 stantaneous pressing of the flat of the 

 knuckle against the wall, the knuckles 

 being furnished with a substance so 

 adhesive as to sustain the weight, and 

 you have in a very clumsy way the 

 idea which Mr. Cheshire so clearly 

 brings out by the aid of his illustra- 

 tions. 



Chapter X has for its subject wings 

 and flight, buzzing and humming. 

 Four hundred and forty is given as 

 the number of vibrations of the wings 

 per second. The beat of the wings 

 makes the buzzing, but the humming 

 is a true voice. 



In Chapter XI (secretion of wax, 

 and bee architecture), we are told that 

 in a square inch on one side of a comb 

 there are 28 13-15 worker-cells, and 

 18 178-375 drone-cells. 



Here, surely, is heresy, for every 

 one knows that worker-cells measure 

 5 to the inch and 5x5=25. A moment's 

 thought, however, will show that 25 

 is correct only on the supposition that 

 the cell is a square, and a little figur- 

 ing upon the surface of the hexagon 

 will show 28 13-15 correct to within 

 one-thousandth. The only wonder, 

 after one's attention is called to it, is 

 that so palpable an error should have 

 passed micliallenged so long. As it 

 makes the difterence of 1,114 cells in a 

 square foot of comb it is a matter of 

 some consequence. TJje sealing of 

 honey-cells is described as not abso- 

 lutely impervious to air, although the 

 anthorbimself speaks of it in a former 

 chapter (page 18) as air-tight. 



The structure of the sting and its 

 action is minutely described in Chap- 

 ter XII. and the organs of the drone 

 and queen in the next two chapters. 

 The ground is taken that the queen 

 never mates the second time, that 

 drones reared from drone laying 

 queens are fully virile, and that dwarf 

 drones reared in worker-cells are 

 probably virile, and that drones have 

 no other use than to fertilize queens. 

 Two interesting chapters, one on bees 

 and flowers mutually complementary, 

 and one on bees as fertilizers, florists, 

 and fruit producers, close the volume. 



I would give many times the price 

 of this book to have its contents 

 clearly in my head. Suppose there is 

 nothing of direct practical value (and 

 it may be of more practical value than 

 I suspect), a full understanding of the 

 wonderful mechanism of the different 

 parts of the bee, and the beautiful 

 adaptation of means to ends, gives 



one a thrill of delight that cannot but 

 cause a greater enjoyment in his daily 

 intercourse with these tiny creatures. 

 Although not well posted in such 

 matters, I have no idea that there is 

 in the English language (or Indeed in 

 any language) anything approaching 

 this volume in fullness of information 

 and completeness of detail as to the 

 subjects of which it treats. 

 Marengo, 5 Ills. 



For tbe American Bee Journal* 



Honey for Bees in Winter. 



J. E. POND, JR. 



Mr. Ileddon says : " I no longer 

 doubt that practical success in win- 

 tering depends upon proper food and 

 temperature. " Why lie should ever 

 have had such doubts is a mystery, as 

 the proposition, so far as it goes, has 

 been a well established axiom for 

 years. Under right conditions any 

 colony will winter safely, is another 

 axiom, and both of these propositions 

 are of one and the same effect, the 

 first being the lesser, and that con- 

 tained in the last the greater. 



What are right conditions 'i is the 

 real question at issue : in other words, 

 what combination of circumstances 

 and things is necessary to produce the 

 desired result V Winter losses do 

 occur with all kinds of food, and in 

 all temperatures; this is a significant 

 fact, and shows conclusively that the 

 conditions are not right ; that some- 

 thing is lacking. As yet we have 

 no really satisfactory proofs that 

 sugar is a safer winter food than pure 

 honey ; and we have the strongest 

 possible evidence that with other 

 conditions right, pure honey is abso- 

 lutely safe ; and we have not as yet 

 such proofs in regard to sugar. This 

 being the case, and I have ventured 

 the assertion on historical grounds 

 solely, we have a strong argument 

 against the use of sugar as winter food 

 for bees when pure honey can be 

 obtained. I will say nothing now in 

 regard to honey being a natural food, 

 as the argument is strong enough 

 without such aid, but will confine 

 myself to established proofs rather 

 than to theoretical notions. 



The idea of adulteration obtains to 

 a large extentinregard to honey ; that 

 this is so will not be denied ; ttie 

 glucose idea did prevail, but now the 

 fact that sugar is being extensively 

 recommended and used as food for 

 bees has great weight with would-be 

 consumers, and they do not become 

 consumers simply from fear they will 

 not get pure honey. It is not at all 

 strange that the general public do 

 not understand tlie matter. Why 

 should they V They simply know 

 that Iwney is, or ought to be, the 

 product of tlie bees ; they have been 

 told by the " Cottons " and others, 

 that bees will store sugar the same as 

 they do honey, and when they find 

 bee-keepers feeding sugar, it is diffi- 

 cult— I might say impossible— to 

 convince them that it is not so fed to 

 be stored and sold as or for honey. 



The above is a natural and a logical 

 conclusion, and as such, is to the con- 



