THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



597 



Explanatory.— The Hgures before the 

 names incHcute the number of years that the 

 person has kept bees. Those after, show 

 the number of colonies the writer had in the 

 previous spring and fall, or fall and spring, 

 as the time of tlie year may require. 



This marlc © indica'tes that the apiarist is 

 located near tne center of the State named; 

 5 north of the center; 9 south; O* east; 

 *0 west; and this 6 northeast; ^ northwest: 

 t>~ southeast; and 9 southwest of the center 

 of the State meutioned. 



For tne American Bee Journal. 



larMiigs of Hybrid Bees, 



G. yi. DOOLITTLE. 



In answer to Query, Ko. 297, 1 find 

 that live out of the ten answering that 

 query, say that hybrid colonies will 

 have individual bees in them, which 

 will show one and two yellow bands ; 

 while two others speak of two yellow 

 bands only on such individual speci- 

 mens. Now in all candor I wish to 

 ask those seven persons if either of 

 them ever saw an individual bee that 

 had any yellow on either one of the 

 first three horny scales or segments 

 of the abdomen, beginning at the 

 thorax, which did not have yellow on 

 all three of them. If so, they have 

 seen something which I never saw. 



To be sure, I have seen bees which 

 appeared to have but one or two yel- 

 low bands, from a casual glance, but 

 close inspection always showed that 

 if there was any yellow on the bee, 

 that bee had yellow on all three of 

 these first bands. The best of Italians 

 appear at times to have only two 

 bands, while such bees spoken of by 

 Mr. Pond, which show four yellow 

 bands, have times of showing but the 

 three bands. This is wholly owing 

 to the conditions of their surround- 

 ings causing them to appear thus, 

 while the same bees under other cir- 

 cumstances appear very differently. 

 The only way to tell perfectly just 

 how a bee is marked, is to cause it to 

 become filled with honey and then 

 place it upon a window, when all the 

 markings on the segments of the 

 abdomen will show forth clearly. 

 Will not these persons take some of 

 their one and two banded bees and 

 examine them as here given, and then 

 tell us what they find V 



Mr. G. W. Demaree once wrote 

 that the meanest hybrids he could 

 find,showed (when examined as above) 

 yellow in splatches. etc., etc., on all 

 three of the bands, if the yellow was 

 shown on any, or words to that effect, 

 which set me to looking into the mat- 

 ter more closely than I had before, 

 when I soon found that he was cor- 

 rect. A\liy we talk of one and two- 

 banded bees is because we do not stop 

 to scrutinize closely enough regarding 

 such bees as appear to have but one 

 and two yellow bands. 



In .June and July, when brood- 

 rearing is going on rapidly so that all 

 bees over three days old are filled 

 with chyme, or witli honey for wax 

 secretion, and the field bees are com- 

 ing in loaded with honey, a colony of 

 bees show off to their best advantage, 

 as all except those under three days 

 old look much the same as the filled 

 bee does upon the window. At such 

 a time almost any one would call a 

 ;'4-blood Italian colony good enough. 

 and speak of it as containing ciii three- 

 banded bees, as did Mr. Ileddon of 

 his hybrid colony in answering the 

 query mentioned "above. 



Now wait until October or Novem- 

 ber, when the bees are getting ready 

 for their winter's nap, and look at the 

 same colony and tliey will be pro- 

 nounced one and two banded bees by 

 a person who is not a close observer. 

 The reason for this is that the seg- 

 ments of the bee's abdomen are made 

 so that one shuts over the other, tele- 

 scope fashion, and when not in active 

 employment tlie abdomen is so con- 

 tracted or drawn up by one ring 

 sliding into the other that all except 

 the widest yellow band is covered up, 

 so that the bee looks as if it possessed 

 but one yellow band. 



To show more perfectly what I 

 mean, we will take one of Mr. Pond's 

 four banded bees, and a close exami- 

 nation will show the first liorny seg- 

 ment next to the thorax to be com- 

 posed of yellow and black, the yellow 

 largely predominating. The next 

 segment is the one having the most 

 yellow on, and is the one yelloio band 

 which is always seen at all times, if 

 any yellow is observed upon the bee. 

 On good specimens the black on this 

 segment is very narrow, often being 

 hardly discernible, only as a mere line 

 around the upper part of the abdomen. 

 The next segment is (except on ex- 

 cellent sjiecimens) about one-half 

 yellow and one-half black ; while the 

 fourth segment will appear about as 

 the second, only that the black takes 

 the place of the yellow, so that only a 

 small line of yellow appears on the 

 front of the segment. In extra speci- 

 mens I have seen this fourth segment 

 have as much yellow upon it as is 

 usually upon the third, while the fifth 

 segment showed the yellow line 

 around it. This is the "way one of 

 Mr. Pond's bees will look wlien shown 

 at its best. Now let another bee sting 

 it and in less than one minute the 

 segments will so slide into one 

 another, as the bee contracts in death 

 from being stung, that all would pro- 

 nounce the bee a two-banded bee, 

 while if it stiowed but the three yellow 

 bands while at its best it woiild so 

 contract that but one yellow band 

 would show enough to attract atten- 

 tion. 



Bees, when first hatched, or when 

 they go into their quiescent state pre- 

 paratory fortheir winter's nap, appear 

 very much tlie same as does a bee 

 which has been stung to death, so 

 that a good colony of Italians appear 

 almost like hybrids when looked at 

 late in the fall. 



My way of examining a colony of 

 bees" is to carefully look the bees over 

 till the poorest bee possible is found. 



This bee is caught and killed. I now 

 take the head or it between the thumb 

 and forefinger of my left hand, when 

 the point of the little blade of my 

 jack-knife is inserted just under the 

 horny scale of the fifth segment of 

 the abdomen. I then put my thumb- 

 nail down on this segment and draw 

 out the abdomen, carrying it over and 

 around the tiuger holding the bee's 

 head. If when thus tested the bee 

 shows three clear, well-cut yellow 

 bands, the colony is pronounced 

 good enough for any use I may wish 

 to put it to. If, on the contrary, the 

 yellow is in splatches, or mingled 

 with the black, or spots of black 

 appear in the yellow, the colony can 

 hardly be called as fine a thorough- 

 bred as can be obtained. 

 Borodino,© N.Y. 



For the American Bee JourwiL 



Tie Iowa State Fair. 



EUGENE SECOR. 



The honey and apiarian supply ex- 

 hibit at the State Fair was a very 

 creditable show. Every one who took 

 part in it has reason to feel proud of 

 the display. It was by far the best I 

 have ever seen in the State. The ex- 

 hibit at the New Orleans Exposition 

 did not compare with it. The great 

 bulk of it was comb honey. The dis- 

 play of extracted honey was not very 

 large, but was put up in very attrac- 

 tive and tasty packages. Glass pails, 

 and the Muth square bottles were the 

 principal ones used. 



The comb honey was shown mostly 

 in pound packages, either in glassed 

 shipping cases or tastily arranged on 

 graduated shelves. Nearly all the 

 modern hives were on exhibition. Not 

 only the Shuck Invertible and the 

 Hill Telescope hive, but a sort of 

 cottage hive which looked something 

 like a smoke house with lean-tos on 

 two sides. Mr. Poppleton and myself 

 stopped to examine it and to listen to 

 the laudations of the person in charge. 

 It was arranged for side and top 

 storing, and had as many apartments 

 as a Saratoga trunk. Its chief value, 

 however, according to our informant, 

 seemed to be that its capacity was 

 equal to two common hives, and 

 therefore it would yield twice as 

 much honey. " You see," said the 

 person in charge, " the way we man- 

 age is this : The first season we do 

 not attempt to get any honey, but let 

 it fill up with bees, and the next sea- 

 son we have a colony twice as strong 

 as a common one, and get twice as 

 much honey !" Farm and county 

 rights for sale. We did not invest. 

 No practical bee-keeper would give 

 10 cents a cart load for such new- 

 fangled patent contraptions. 



Most of the modern implements 

 were on exhibition, and also the dif- 

 ferent races of bees in observatory 

 hives. The crowds of interested 

 questioners who huddled around the 

 exhibit, showed that these object 

 lessoiis were being studied. 



The Iowa State Bee-Keepers' Asso- 

 I ciation met during the Fair. The 



