30O 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



wintered best. ' ' What other ones were 

 there ? What ones in the other yards ? 

 How did the localities differ as to the lay 

 of the land as well as to the character of 

 the fall honey flow ? And what did the 

 bees die of? Dysentery, starvation or 

 freezing? 



SULPHURIC ACID FOR CLEANSING BEES- 

 WAX. 

 In Gleanings, 543, the editor says, for 

 the purpose of cleansing beeswax, the 

 acid should be reduced in water from 50 

 to 500 times. To allow for a latitude of 

 from I to 10 seems altogether too wide, 

 to make the advice of any value. Then, 

 even the smaller amount must be egre- 

 giously great. Tr}^ two or three table 

 spoonfuls in ten gallons of w-ax and wa- 

 ter — dropping it in carefully when the 

 wax is all melted and boiling, and remove 

 from the fire at once. I have found this 

 course entirel}' satisfactory. 



" RAYS OF DARK " AND KING-BIRDS. 



Mr. W^right, he of the rays-of-dark 

 fame, returns to the subject in Gleanings, 

 531. His article has this caption, for 

 which I suppose Gleanings is responsible: 

 "The importance of careful accurate 

 observation." In a foot-note the editor 

 says "some of his notions have been se- 

 verely criticized by the Review critic . . 



but if Mr. Taylor will 



conduct his experiments as Mr. Wright 

 has his he may get his eyes opened to 

 more 'rays of light.' I don't say that 

 Mr. Wright's ideas on how nocturnal 

 animals see are correct; but they should 

 hardly be classed as so much 'nonsense,' 

 One who is so close an observer as Mr. 

 Wright should receive at least candid 

 consideration." And more of the same 

 kind in relation to Mr. Wright's discov- 

 eries concerning the King-bird. Mr. 

 Wright says he has spent many nights 

 in fields and forest in the haunts of the 

 owl, fox, etc. and has "become convinced 

 that many animals can see perfectly only 

 in total darkness. " "Total darkness" is 

 indeed "rayless gloom," and that's pretty 

 dark. I can not help wondering if Mr. 



Wright ever discovered it in his nightly 

 wanderings Mr. Wright should remem- 

 ber that the eyes of animals become 

 atrophied in caves where I suppose the 

 darkness lacks something of being total. 

 Mr. Wright has also investigated the 

 king bird and his doings. With knife 

 and gun he lies in wait for the bird. 

 When he discovers a pair he watches one 

 till he has apparently caught six bees, 

 when he is brought down and a post- 

 mortem examination is made but not a 

 trace of bees was found. Then the other 

 was given a chance to catch a dozen 

 or more, when she shares the fate of 

 her mate. Investigation discovers one 

 drone but no trace of another bee. But 

 Mr. W. pursues the quest and discovers 

 that one bird at least extracts the juices 

 of the bees and rejects the skeleton. This 

 moves the editor to say "This illustrates 

 how unscientific are some of the experi- 

 ments and observations of even scientific 

 men." It may interest him to know that 

 I also have been "gunning" among the 

 king birds in a small way and have had 

 no difficulty in finding the recognizable 

 remains of workers in their crops — but 

 then localities differ. 



THE COLOR OF HONEYS. 



Prof. Hunter, according to Gleanings, 

 530, gives photographs of six samples of 

 honey. They range in shade thus: i, 

 alfalfa and melon; 2, white clover; 3, 

 alfalfa; 4, basswood; 5, sweet clover; 6, 

 knot weed. Dr. Miller asks whether 

 basswood is usually darker than white 

 clover. The editor answers that it is 

 generally a little darker but only slightly 

 so. In this locality it is always dicidedly 

 lighter. 

 THE I'ROPER PLACE FOR OUEEN CELLS. 



Dr. Miller suspects that having the cells 

 [Doolittle cells] between two combs with 

 young larvae is an important point. The 

 editor (Gleanings, 529) answers that it is 

 quite important. I wish to ask why ? 

 That is, why, if the colon}- is strong 

 enough to rear good queens ? 



Lapeer, Mich., Oct. 3, 1899. 



