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this pressure fauuot possibly be ex- 

 erted. 



The workers hatch in 21 days. A 

 careful microscopic study of their sex- 

 ual system (first made in the time of 

 Huber, and for him), shows them to 

 be partially developed females, the 

 sexual organs being very rudimentary. 

 Here rests the jiossibility of developing 

 any worker worm into a queen, if it is 

 only taken early enough, and sub- 

 jected to lengthening to meet the 

 needs of the larger occupants. All 

 this shows the wonderful instincts of 

 this wonderful insect. 



Edenburg, Pa. 



LARVAL FOOD. 



Tlie Quantity and Quality of tiie 

 Food of Larval Bees. 



Written for the Dniggist Circular 



FOR SEPTEMBEK. 



The bee has proven a sufficiently in- 

 teresting study to engage the atten- 

 tion of many able observers, among 

 the keenest of whom are Leuckart and 

 Schonfeld, whose observations con- 

 cerning the food of larval bees agree 

 in the main, and are according to A. 

 V. Planta {Zeit. Physiol. Chem.) sub- 

 stantially as follows : 



1. The food of the queen-bee larvae 

 is the same during the whole of the 

 larval period ; it is free from pollen- 

 grains, which have been reduced to a 

 thickish but homogeneous juice by the 

 digestive action uf the stomach of 

 bee. 



2. The food of the larval drones is 

 also, during the first four days of the 

 larval period, free from pollen, and 

 appears to have been completely di- 

 gested previously. After four days 

 their food is rich in pollen-grains, 

 which have, however, undergone a cer- 

 tain amount of , digestion. The food 

 •stuff of the larvse is probably formed 

 from bee-bread. The composition of 

 the food of the queen-bee larv» was 

 water, 69.38 ; total solids, 30.62. In 

 the solids the proportions were, nitro- 

 genous material, 45.14 ; fat, 13.55 ; 

 glucose, 20.39 ; ash, 4.06. 



The composition of the food of the 

 drone-larva^ and tliose of the working 

 bees both differed from each other, 

 and from that of the queen-bees. All 

 kinds are rich in nitrogen ; all were of 

 a grayish white color ; that of the 

 queen-bee was the stickiest, that of the 

 workers the most fluid. Peptone ap- 

 peared to Ije absent ; the greater part 

 of the nitrogenous material present 

 was proteid. The ethereal extract was 

 in all cases aeid, but formic acid was 

 absent. The sugar present was, in 

 all cases, invert sugar, whereas the 



sugar in pollen-grains is invariably 



cane-sugar. 



There are certain differences in the 

 composition of the different kinds of 

 larval food, more especially in the 

 composition of the solids present. Its 

 composition is, moreover, quite differ- 

 ent from that of the bee's saliva, which 

 contains no sugar. The difference be- 

 tween the proportional amount of the 

 different solids present in the different 

 forms of larval food is a constant one, 

 and no doubt this variation has in 

 view the particular requirements of 

 the larvse in question. Certain small 

 but constant differences were also ob- 

 served in the chemical composition of 

 the food of the larval drones during 

 the first four days, and at subsequent 

 periods. Not only is there a difference 

 in the quality, but there is also one in 

 the quantity of the food supplied. 



The juice from 100 queen-bee cells 

 yielded 3.6028 grams of dry substance; 

 that from 100 drones' cells, 0.2612 

 gram ; that from 100 workers' cells, 

 0.0474 gram. The substance investi- 

 gated was the juice of pap, the whitish 

 sticky substance which the working 

 bees store in the cells of the larvas of 

 the queens, drones and workers. 



I>euckart regarded it as the product 

 of the true stomach of the working 

 bees, which they vomit into the cells, 

 in the same way that honey is vomited 

 from the honey-stomach. Fischer and 

 others regarded it as the product of 

 the salivarj- glands of the bees. Schon- 

 feld, in numerous papers, has recentlj- 

 shown that Leuckai't's original view is 

 the correct one. He showed that the 

 saliva can be easily obtained from the 

 salivary glands of the head and thorax, 

 and that it is very different from the 

 food juice deposited in the cells of the 

 bees ; and that, moreover, the juice is 

 similar, both chemically and micro- 

 scopically, to the contents of the bee's 

 true stomach ; he showed also from 

 the consideration of certain anatomical 

 and physiological peculiarities of the 

 bee, such as the position of the mouth, 

 the inability of the bee to spit, etc., 

 that the view of this substance being 

 saliva, is quite untenable. 



Certain observers have replied that 

 a bee cannot vomit the contents of its 

 true stomach, because of a valve which 

 intervenes between it and the honey 

 stomach ; but Schonfeld has shown 

 that the structure, mistaken by these 

 observers for a valve, does not act as 

 one, but is in realitj' an internal 

 mouth, over which the animal has 

 voluntary control, and by means of 

 which it is able to eat and drink the 

 contents of the honey-stomach when 

 necessity or inclination arises. By 

 light pressure on the stomach, and 

 stretching out the animal's neck, the 

 contents of the stomach can be easily 



pressed out. Planta's investigations 

 entirely confirm Schonfeld's view, that 

 this substance comes from the bee's 

 stomach. 



REARING QUEENS 



By the Swarming Impulse, Not 

 in tbe Swarming Season. 



Written fur the American Bee Journal 

 BY A. N. CLABK. 



Recently Mr. Allej' sta,ted that he 

 had in August reared queen-cells in 

 colonies having queens. I do not 

 know his method, but a j'ear ago last 

 July I had cells built in a normal col- 

 ony as follows : 



I contracted the hive to 8 Langstroth 

 frames, 2 of which were empty combs. 

 There being but little nectar in the 

 fields, I fed one pound of diluted 

 honey each day ; this stimulated breed- 

 ing, and, being crowded for room in 

 the course of a week, they commenced 

 building cells preparatory to swarming. 

 As soon as the cells were started, I re- 

 moved the comb containing them, re- 

 placing it by a selected comb of hatch- 

 ing eggs in which the cell-walls were 

 broken down in rows that were hori- 

 zontal. 



Upon examination a few da3's later, 

 I found cells on the pre25ared comb. 

 Just before the cells were ready to 

 seal, the comb of cells was removed to 

 a queenless colony. By thus removing 

 cells, replacing with empty comb, and 

 the discontinuance of feeding, swarm- 

 ing was prevented. 



It is quite possible that one would 

 not always be so successful. For in- 

 stance, the bees might build cells of 

 their own larv;i? instead of from that 

 given them ; and frequently thej' might 

 swarm before the cells were removed, 

 or, even after their removal. In some 

 cases the queenless colony might de- 

 stroy the unsealed cells given them. 

 Perhaps Mr. Alley's method overcomes 

 these difficulties. ^ 



Although queens reared by the 

 above method seem as good as any, I 

 doubt their being better than those 

 reared in queenless colonies, strong in 

 young bees. 



n'by Bees Gather More Propolis iu the 

 State of micbigan. 



Some apiarists have wondered why 

 bees in Michigan use propolis more 

 freely than they do in some other 

 States. I think that it is due to the 

 greater number of tamarack trees that 

 grow here. The bees are now gath- 

 ering large quantities of resin, which 

 exudes from the cones on the tamarack 

 and evergreen trees. 



East LeRoy, Mich. 



