390 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL, 



June 22, 1899', 



keeping it down. Our law is so well worded that our bee- 

 keepers don't have to wait for days or weeks before it can 

 be applied ; and while it can remain dormant when not 

 needed, it can also be applied for the benefit of any bee- 

 keeper in any county, and at any time, by making applica- 

 tion to the inspectors in their respective counties or district. 

 There doesn't seem to be any trouble in regard to the mat- 

 ter except in a few places where the bee-keepers have not 

 taken action to get the law in force. Probably if the bee- 

 keepers thru the State will take an interest in the matter 

 for their own benefit, it is possible the whole thing could be 

 stampt out. 



Some very interesting remarks were made by Vice- 

 Presidents Hone and Rhees, and also by Mr. Teeples and 

 others, on the wintering of bees on the summer stands, and 

 also by the house and cellar methods. They also showed 

 the necessity of ventilation to prevent dampness. 



Messrs. Schach, West, Dudley, and others spoke on the 

 necessity of a more united action in the purchase of sup- 

 plies, and in disposing of the bee-products. Mr. Folger and 

 others spoke on the best shape and style of hives, and also 

 in praise of Utah honey. 



Messrs. Hone, Fagg, Garrett and others gave their 

 views on the foul brood question. They claimed that all 

 bee-keepers, as far as possible, should study this subject for 

 themselves. After some further remarks by several mem- 

 bers on general topics the meeting- adjourned until October, 

 1899. 



It was one of the most largely attended meetings ever 

 held by the Association — some 30 members being present ; 

 and the interest and participation in the proceedings were 

 general. It is hoped that it will be the means of forming a 

 stronger bond of union among the bee-keepers of the State. 



CU.XDUCTEl) EV 



UR. C. C. AlILLER, Marengo, III. 



[The Questions may be mailed to the Bee Journal office, or to Dr. Miller 



direct, when he will answer them here. Please do not ask the 



Doctor to send answers by mail. — Editor.] 



Pure Italians, Five-Banders and Albino Bees. 



On page 306 appears a .series of questions for me to an- 

 swer, which would have been answered sooner if the editor 

 had sent them directly to me instead of first putting them 

 in print. In order to save room I'll not repeat the questions 

 but answer in order : 



1. I have seen Italian queens that I had good reason to 

 believe came from Italy, and I have seen their progeny, all 

 of which I believe to have been pure, but I don't know that 

 I ever saw a worker-bee that first saw the light in Italy. 



2. I use the word "pure " in its usual sense, a pure Ital- 

 ian being that which is unmixt with something that is not 

 Italian. 



3. I suppose changes come about in bees as in other 

 things. The people in the world don't all look just like 

 Adam and Eve, altho I believe Adam and Eve were pure 

 stock. The more fixt the type, the less likelihood of changes. 

 I do not believe pure Italians are so fixt in character as pure 

 blacks, hence it is easier to breed different strains of Ital- 

 ians. While it maj- be true that the Italian is not a pure 

 race, I should consider it hypercritical to say our queen- 

 breeders had never bred pure Italians. 



4. As I said before, I don't know that I ever saw any 

 bee except a queen that came from Italy. But I believe 

 that there are also workers and drones in Italy. 



5. As I don't think I ever .saw a worker-bee that came 

 from Italy, I can hardly tell much about its color. 



6. I have seen a great many bees with three yellow 

 bands that were the progeny of what I believe were im- 

 ported queens. 



7. I mean by "bands" the same as is meant by the 

 word as used in general bj' all writers on bee-culture — the 

 segments or stripes of the abdomen. 



8. Yes, I .saw that question-mark. 



9. Yes, I have seen a great many single bees from an 

 imported queen that had three yellow segments. 



10. No, I don't know that I ever saw a single bee from 

 an imported queen that had three segments all of a maroon 

 color. In fact, I think the color was always more nearly 

 yellow than maroon, perhaps the color of yellow ocher. It 

 is possible, of course, that I may be mistaken as to the mat- 

 ter of color, having no specimen before me, but that's as- 

 nearly as I remember, and I think all the authorities that 

 I've read teach the same thing. 



11. Not having a specimen before me, I cannot answer 

 minutely your question, but this from Cheshire may an- 

 swer the purpose in describing the three yellow bands :: 

 "The first three rings are themselves in large part a trans- 

 parent, tawny yellow transparent, as may be seen by allow- 

 ing a bee to fly on the window-pane. The first abdominal 

 ring on the dorsal side mainly faces the thorax, and may be 

 mist by careless observation ; its lower edge only is black. 

 The tipper two-thirds of the second is yellow, the upper 

 third smooth and hairless, because this passes beneath the 

 ring above it when the body is contracted. A band of yel- 

 low hair covers the second third, and adds much to the- 

 beauty of the bee, as hairs and ground are alike yellow. 

 The lower third of the ring is glossy black, carrying many- 

 microscopic hairs, and a minute fringe. The third ring re- 

 sembles the-second, while the fourth and fifth carry yellow- 

 ish hairs, but are black. The sixth ring, black also, is- 

 nearly hairless." 



12. I think the tendency of Italians bred in this country 

 is toward a lig-hter color. 



13. I think I never disputed that in the five-banded bees,, 

 one, at least, of the bands may have been solid yellow with- 

 out any black. 



14. I don't know that I ever saw a worker-bee with the 

 sixth segment yellow. I think, however, that I have read 

 of workers yellow to the tip so often that I took it for 

 granted that such were in existence. If there are none such 

 in existence I am thankful for the correction, for there are 

 many things I don't know about bees, but about which I 

 am anxious to learn. Possibly those who spoke of workers- 

 yellow to the tip were speaking in a slightlj^ exaggerated 

 form, somewhat as you do when you speak of a worker ap- 

 pearing like " a lump of gold." We mustn't be too hard 

 on them. 



15. I have seen what was callel an albino bee. 



16. I think the part that lackt the coloring-matter was 

 the hairs. 



17. If you mean the coloring of the chitine. I don't 

 think that there was any change in that in the albino. A 

 lack of coloring-matter in the hairs inade the bands or seg- 

 ments lighter. 



I said that "albinos among bees are much the same as 

 albinos among the human race — bees which have been so 

 bred ,that the coloring-matter is somewhat lacking." If I 

 had stopt at the first half of that statement, there would be 

 some show for pretending to think I meant a bee milky- 

 white all over, but as I immediately stated in the last half 

 that I meant " bees so bred that the coloring-matter is some- 

 what lacking," I think my statement is entirely correct. 



If I desired to be as critical with your writings. I think 

 I could find some spots that would not bear that kind of 

 scrutiny. For example, you say, "I had supposed that the 

 abdomen of each bee was composed of six hornj' segments." 

 Now. if I wanted to pick at that, I might say, "You are 

 quite mistaken if you think there is nothing of the abdomen 

 but six horny segments. There is the framework or skele- 

 ton composed of chitine, inside of that a whole lot of in- 

 wards, and outside more or less hairs or down." But I don't 

 think it would be very nice of me to talk that way. I think 

 you and I will do well not to descend to hypercriticism. 



C.'C. MII.LER. 

 < « ► — — 



Building Comb in All Shapes. 



I have i4-inch starters in my extracting-supers, and the 

 bees are beginning to build comb. Some begin on the 

 starters and some on top of the bottom-bars and build up ; 

 and some build rather across the bottom-bars — all shapes. 

 What's the matter ? What must I do ? So. Carolina. 



Answer. — Very likely the reason for your bees doing 

 as they have done is the great distance from the brood-nest 

 to the starters. If the frames in the super are of the same 

 depth as in the lower story, it's a pretty long stretch from 

 the brood-combs to those 34-inch starters. So the bees build 

 up from below, just as they would if no starters were present. 



If you will persistently tear ^out all the work they do in 



