THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



521 



Mr. Meggy would like to know how 

 far the statement was to be consid- 

 ered reliable, that the bee had a sen- 

 sation of feeling in its antennce ; and 

 he would also like to hear a few 

 words from Mr. Grimshaw in reply to 

 Mr. Webster's remarks as to the fail- 

 ure of beei to find their right homes, 

 probably owing to a want of sight. 

 Mr. Cheshire's observations tended 

 towards the belief that the antennae 

 were the seat of feeling. Mr. Grim- 

 shaw could perhaps say whether the 

 Germans agreed with Mr. Cheshire's 

 views. Possibly Ligurian bees went 

 to other hives for the purpose of rob- 

 bing, and not because they had lost 

 their way, as Mr. Webiler suggested. 

 In an early volume of the first edition 

 of the Popular Educator, published 

 about 25 years ago, a statement was 

 made on the question of Euclid as to 

 the exactitude of the bees working in 

 the hexagonal. The writer tried to 

 show that the bees were not quite ex- 

 act in their mathematics, but his ar- 

 guments were afterwards vigorously 

 assailed, and the bee's measurement 

 found correct. 



Mr. Grimshaw said with regard to 

 bees not always coming back direct 

 to their own hives, he thought one or 

 two exceptions must not be taken as 

 upsetting the rule. There was a say- 

 ing that if a strange bee went to a 

 hive with its honey-sac full, it was 

 received with " open arms." With 

 regard to the smell organs being 

 situated in the antennae, experiments 

 had been made by clipping off the 

 antennae of insects for the purpose of 

 seeing whether or not the latter 

 would find nectar. The result of 

 such experiments was that drone, 

 Cfueen, worker-bee, ants, and other 

 insects possessing antennae.and which 

 feed on scented substances, went 

 wandering about in a very aimless 

 manner after being deprived of their 

 antennae. In addition to that there 

 were certain depressions on the an- 

 tennae provided with nerves, which 

 the highest authorities argued could 

 be put to no other purpose than that 

 of smelling. 



Mr. Webster did not know whether 

 it was that the bees went visiting one 

 another, or that by mistake they en- 

 tered the wrong hives and were ac- 

 cepted for the time being because 

 they brought supplies with them ; but 

 an examination of his colonies of 

 black bees, night or morning, would 

 often show more than a hundred 

 Ligurian intruders. 



Mr. Grimshaw said Mr. Webster's 

 remarks struck at the root of one of 

 the beekeeper's articles of faith. 

 They all knew that sentries were 

 placed at the entrance to a hive day 

 and night, which were able to detect 

 strangers by the smell. All bee-keep- 

 ers must have witnessed the conflicts 

 which took place from time to time 

 on the alighting-board between 

 strange visitors and the inmates of 

 the hive. 



Mr. Daintree endorsed Mr. Grim- 

 shaw's views. He frequently searched 

 his hives, but seldom or never found 

 an Italian bee in the wrong hive. He 

 thought bees had a keen sense of 

 hearing. A party of hand-bell ringers 



came into this district twelve months 

 ago, and immediately they began to 

 ring their bells, although at a long 

 distance ofE, the bees flocked out of 

 all the hives in large numbers. 



Mr. Webster was of the opinion 

 that bees going to a hive to rob were 

 stopped by the sentries not so much 

 by a sense of smell as by the particu- 

 lar action of the strangers in ap- 

 proaching the hive. He believed that 

 the sentries could tell the difference 

 between a bee which had lost its way 

 and a bee which came for the pur- 

 pose of robbing. A robber bee going 

 to a hive made a peculiar kind of 

 hum, which was totally distinct from 

 a bee bringing in honey. 



Mr. Grimshaw said that in cases 

 where hives had been moved in the 

 day-time, the bees belonging thereto 

 would fly about the old stands, and 

 frequently die from inability to find 

 their homes instead of entering other 

 hives. With regard tO the bees' eyes, 

 there was no doubt they were so 

 placed for the purpose of giving trian- 

 gular vision. They represented the 

 instruments which the civil engineer 

 used in his measurements, and com- 

 bined a triangular system of optics 

 with telescopic arrangements. 



Mr. Hooker thought Mr. Grim- 

 shaw's arguments very feasible, and 

 suggested that Mr. Webster should 

 propound an alternative theory if he 

 did not believe them. 



Mr. Webster believed that the two 

 sets of eyes were for seeing far and 

 short distances, but he did not think 

 that the bees acted on the principles 

 of trigonometry. 



Mr. Meggy thought that the ocelli 

 were placed so as to give the triangu- 

 lation, but that the compound eyes 

 gave the short sight for use in the 

 flower especially. From observations 

 made in his own apiary, he believed 

 it was very rare for bees to make a 

 mistake and visit the wrong hive. 



Mr. Grimshaw believed the bee saw 

 objects near to it by means of the 

 short telescopes. The telescopes 

 varied in length, the compound eye- 

 mass being rounded. The facets near 

 the centre had a longer range than 

 those at the outer edges. He did not 

 think the bee used the three simple 

 eyes for ordinary vision at all, because 

 the other eyes answered the purpose 

 admirably. 



In answer to Mr. Meggy, Mr. Grim- 

 shaw said that the eye was shaped 

 like an orange, and that if a section 

 were taken, it would be found that 

 some of the eyes had short tubes and 

 others long tubes. He believed that 

 bees saw short distances with the 

 short tubes, and long distances with 

 the long tubes, in the same compound 

 eye-mass. 



The Chairman moved, and Mr. Gar- 

 ratt seconded, a vote of thanks to Mr. 

 Grimshaw for his valaable and inter- 

 esting essay. 



Mr. Grimshaw briefly thanked the 

 audience, and said he had been amply 

 repaid for his trouble in preparing the 

 manuscript, by listening to the very 

 interesting conversation which had 

 ensued thereon. 



Bee-Keepers' Ma»;a7lne. 



Hi£ti Prices for Honey— Kissing Bees. 



MRS. M. L. THOMAS. 



I long ago adopted a rule not to re- 

 ply to press notices, however errone- 

 ous they may be, for I have observed 

 that there is a certain class of men 

 wholly incapable of doing anything 

 better, who can always contradict and 

 object to whatever others have 

 thought or said or done, and discus- 

 sion with such is time worse than 

 wasted. But I am going to depart 

 from this rule, that I may thank you 

 for your generous endorsement of my 

 truthfulness and honesty of purpose, 

 in your review of an article in the 

 American Bee Journal, which 

 seems indirectly to take exception to 

 a speech made by me on " Women in 

 Bee Keeping." before the New York 

 State Bee-Keepers' Convention, at 

 Albany, N. Y. 



It would not be strange if in the 

 rapid utterances of an extempor- 

 aneous speech, or in the rendering of 

 it by reporters, something might be 

 said, or reported, not intended by the 

 speaker; but in looking over those 

 passages quoted by you from the Chi- 

 cago Bee Journal, I am happy to . 

 say that, while parts of it are not cor- 

 rect strictly, I find nothing that I am 

 not willing to admit for the sake of 

 the argument, or let it pass by if it 

 suits the writer to have it so. Albeit, 

 I do not think that a sneer or sarcasm 

 is ever an honest argument, or worthy 

 the attention of a right-minded per- 

 son, nor is it in this case even a 

 denial, except by implication, without 

 reason. 



The very first sentence : " In a 

 woman convention, etc.," is entirely 

 without foundation in fact. The 

 speech in question was delivered be- 

 fore a convention composed entirely 

 of men, or with not more than one 

 other lady present, and if I remember 

 correctly, the first sentence uttered 

 made note of the fact. The men 

 present were all thinking, experienced 

 bee-men, not mere learners, and not a 

 word of dissent was expressed. 



The theme was one selected by the 

 committee, and the duty, as well as 

 the pleasure, of the speaker was to 

 present it in a way calculated to in- 

 terest women in the delightful pur- 

 suit. This I did by giving facts in 

 my own experience, and of others 

 well known to me. I believe I stated 

 nothing that was not strictly true, 

 and I do now reiterate them, adding 

 what the reporters failed to give, that 

 my convictions are that bee-keeping 

 is still in its infancy; that its future 

 honey production will be greatly in 

 advance of anything yet known ; that 

 what I claim to have done is not a 

 large claim, but is very little compared 

 with what might be done, even in the 

 present time, by enlightened skill and 

 enterprise. 



A number of years ago a beekeeper 

 in the basswood region of Cherry 

 Valley, N. Y. (I forget his name), 

 claimed to have obtained from a sin- 

 gle colony in one year, a surplus of 

 1,100 pounds. A howl of ignorant 



