422 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Translated from the German. 



HowdoBeesRecopizeeacliOtlier? 



M. SCHACHINGER. 



It is surely a striking phenomenon, 

 that so many thousands of bees that 

 live in the same hive, and under one 

 queen, and whose period of life in 

 summer time does not exceed six 

 weeks on the average, can recognize 

 each other so quickly and surely as to 

 be able to detect a strange bee, 

 scarcely differing from themselves in 

 shape, size, and color, that is unhesi- 

 tatingly attacked by a sentinel and 

 forced out of the entrance in a fierce 

 encounter. The bees seem to make 

 an exception to this rule (of making 

 strange bees keep their distance), only 

 in the case of very young bees ; that 

 is, those taking their initial flight, 

 and happening to alight at the wrong 

 entrance, and of those which, coming 

 to the hive laden with honey or pol- 

 len, miss their own home because of 

 exhaustion, inclement weather, etc., 

 and are compelled to seek one else- 

 where. This is readily granted them, 

 and henceforth they become true 

 members of the family which has 

 adopted them ; and should they, in 

 their turn, become sentinels, they 

 would undoubtedly attack their own 

 sisters, in case the latter tried to 

 force an entrance into the hive. 



A personal acquaintance of the bees 

 with each other we must deny ab- 

 solutely, because of the enormous 

 number belonging to a single colony, 

 their short life in summer, and be- 

 cause all are rarely in the hive at the 

 the same time. Neither can color be 

 a sign of mutual recognition ; for bees 

 to whom a queen of a differently col- 

 ored race has been introduced, do not 

 molest the progeny of this new queen, 

 this progeny having a color differing 

 greatly from that of the first queen. 

 We therefore have remaining, speech, 

 and the sense of touch and smell, 

 which may serve them as a means of 

 recognition. 



For a long time beekeepers were of 

 the opinion that a kind of speech ex- 

 isted among the bees, and that, ac- 

 cordingly, a certain watchword (so to 

 speak) enabled them to distinguish 

 strangers from those belonging to 

 their own hive. Of course bees have 

 certain sounds by which they express 

 emotions, and cause themselves to be 

 understood outside the hive ; for in- 

 stance, the vehement, shrill cry pro- 

 duced by an angry bee that wishes to 

 drive us from the vicinity of the hive, 

 soon attracts a number of sister-bees 

 from neighboring hives, whose com- 

 bined attack finally compels us to beat 

 a hasty retreat. Similarly does the 

 swarm know how to call its thousands 

 of members together in a few min- 

 utes, by the well-known joyous call- 

 note. 



But all of these sounds, of which 

 the human ear has been able to detect 

 nearly thirty, and judge of the mean- 

 ing, are such as are common to all the 

 bees, and by whirh, it is true, they 

 can express the most diverse emo- 

 tions, but which can never serve as 

 the watchword of a colony of bees. 



Others thought that bees recognize 

 each other by the sense of touch, for 

 they have often been observed to 

 cross their antennae in the hive, as if 

 in the act of communicating some- 

 thing to each other. This view has a 

 strong claim to probability, with this 

 modification, that the sense of smell 

 also has its seat in the antennae, so 

 that not the sense of touch, but that 

 of smell, forms the means of mutual 

 recognition. jS^ow, if this same sense 

 serves such a purpose, there must be 

 in every hive a being that is capable 

 of giving to all its inmates a peculiar 

 and distinct odor. Without doubt we 

 can consider the queen to possess this 

 function, which, in passing hither and 

 thither through the hive, gives to 

 each and every bee the same odor, 

 which act, as has been observed, takes 

 place by the queen ejecting a fine 

 fluid. This explains the fact that 

 those bees, coming home honey laden, 

 and whose odor is rendered less in- 

 tense by flying through the air, and 

 by coming in contact with so many 

 flowers, can gain admittance even 

 into strange hives, without being 

 hindered thereat. The fact of their 

 being loaded with honey is not the 

 reason why the sentinel bees allow 

 them to pass, but it is the neutralized 

 odor which prevents the sentinels 

 from distinguishing them from the 

 bees of their own hive. 



If we take bees that have, in conse- 

 quence of fear, annoyance, or similar 

 causes, filled themselves with honey 

 in the hive, and put them in the en- 

 trance of another hive, they will, in 

 spite of their being loaded with 

 honey, be attacked and pulled out 

 without much ado ; a proof that it is 

 not the honey carried by the bees, but 

 some other factor which determines 

 the acceptance or repulsion of a bee. 

 The young bees which are generally 

 readily accepted by neighboring colo- 

 nies seem to to be infected by the 

 odor of the queen as much as the 

 older ones, which accounts for their 

 immunity from attack. In the case 

 of other beings, also, youth enjoys a 

 certain indulgence. Why, then, 

 should bees be so cruel to «/ieir young? 

 Robber bees that enter a strange hive 

 to carry its stores to their own are at 

 first violently attacked and ener- 

 getically repelled ; but if they are suc- 

 cessful several times, they can there- 

 after enter and leave the hive un- 

 touched. They have, in all likelihood, 

 been infected by the odor of the 

 queen during their stay in the hive, 

 and therefore cannot be distinguished 

 by the sentinel bees, which haye 

 probably soon accustomed themselves 

 to the smell of the robber bees, be- 

 cause the latter generally enter a hive 

 in large numbers. 



The following, also, in itself a very 

 striking fact, is easily explained if we 

 accept the abovesupposition ; namely, 

 that bees from hives containing im- 

 pregnated queens, unite neither 

 among themselves nor with swarms 

 having unimpregnated queens; where- 

 as the latter kind of swarms unite 

 with each other most readily, and 

 their queens quietly engage in the 

 decisive struggle. It is probable that 

 the unimpregnated queen ejects none, 



or very little of the above-mentioned 

 fluid, so that the odor of the bees 

 which are with her is less marked. 



Far from the hive, while gathering 

 stores, bees are outspoken cosmopoli- 

 tans, neither troubling themselves 

 about their foraging neighbors, nor 

 knowing envy ; but they are impelled 

 solely by their instinct to make the 

 most of nature's treasures. At home 

 they are jealous of every stranger ; 

 in the field they magnanimously give 

 way to each other. 



A Short CliaDter for Bes:iniiers. 



JUST WHAT THEY WANT TO KKOW. 



We are often requested to give a 

 short chapter for those who are just 

 commencing the business of keeping 

 bees, and we will now treat them to 

 the following which was written for a 

 family newspaper, and will answer 

 many questions usually asked by the 

 uninitiated, some of which occur in 

 this very issue of the American Bee 

 Journal : 



If you observe a colony of bees a 

 few minutes you will see that there 

 are three different kinds of the in- 

 sects, varying somewhat in shape and 

 serving three distinct and exclusive 

 purposes. One kind is a big, fat 

 healthy-looking fellow, large of girth, 

 and so blunt at its rear extremity that 

 it looks as though part . of its body 

 had been chopped off. This is the 

 male of the species, the despised 

 drone which the world-over serves as 

 a symbol of idleness. He is permitted 

 to live only that he may enable the 

 queen- bee to contribute to the in- 

 crease of the hive, and, when that 

 purpose is served, dies instantly. He 

 is in a minority appropriate to his 

 peculiar condition. It is estimated 

 that 16 ounces of bees, which would 

 fill a cup holding 5 gills, would num- 

 ber over 5,300. Of these perhaps not 

 more than 175 would be drones. The 

 drone has no sting. 



Looking again at the colony you 

 will see hundreds of bees smaller 

 than the drone, with a very slender 

 waist and a narrow body pointed in 

 the rear. These are the workers, and 

 they have stings. It was at one time 

 thought that tlie workers had no sex, 

 and they were known as neuters ; but 

 recent observations have demon- 

 strated beyond a doubt that the 

 workers are females, capable even of 

 laying drone eggs. 



Somewhere in or around the colony^ 

 and never very far distant, you will 

 see a bee longer than either the drone 

 or the worker, more graceful in out- 

 line, and altogether a superior-look- 

 ing insect. This is the queen, the 

 central figure of the colony, the con- 

 trolling force, the royal ruler, and the 

 egg layer. From a commercial stand- 

 point the most important function of 

 the queen is the last named. In a 

 very temperate climate the queen will 

 deposit eggs ten or eleven months out 

 of the year, and in the warm, fine 



