ARTIFICIAL SWARMING. 195 



daily till the 29th, they came forth about noon, disporting 

 in front of the hive, in the rays of the sun. They, how- 

 ever, manifestly, did not issue for the purpose of gathering 

 honey or pollen, for during that time none were noticed 

 returning with pellets ; none were seen alighting on any 

 of the flowers in my garden ; and I found no honey in 

 the stomachs of such as I caught and killed for examina- 

 tion. The gathering was done exclusively by the old bees 

 of the original stock, until the 29th of May, when the 

 Italian bees began to labor in that vocation also being 

 then 19 days old. 



" 2. On the feeding troughs placed in my garden, and 

 which were constantly crowded with common bees, I saw 

 no Italian bees till the 27th of May, seventeen days after 

 the first had emerged from the cells. 



"From the 10th of May on, I daily presented to Italian 

 bees, in the hive, a stick dipped in honey. The younger 

 ones never attempted to lick any of it; the older occasion- 

 ally seemed to sip a little, but immediately left it and 

 moved away. The common bees always eagerly licked it 

 up, never leaving it till they had filled their honey-bags. 

 Not till the 25th of May did I see any Italian bee lick up 

 honey eagerly, as the common bees did from the begin- 

 ning. 



"These repeated observations force me to conclude that, 

 during the first two weeks of the worker-bee's life, the 

 impulse for gathering honey and pollen 4pes not exist, or 

 at least is not developed ; and that the development of this 

 impulse proceeds slowly and gradually. At first the 

 young bee will not even touch the honey presented to 

 her; some days later she will simply taste it, and only 

 after a further lapse of time will she consume it eagerly. 

 Two weeks elapse before she readily eats honey, and 

 nearly three weeks pass, before the gathering impulse is 



