118 THE GRAPE IN KANSAS. 



tunity were afforded the bees to satisfy their hunger and thirst by attacking the 

 fruit exposed. They daily visited the fruit in great n'umbers, and labored dili- 

 gently to improve the only remaining source of subsistence. They inspected and 

 took what advantage they could of every opening at the stem or crack in the 

 epidermis or puncture made by insects, which deposited their eggs in the skin 

 of grapes. They regarded the epidermis of the peaches, pears, plums and other 

 fruits having a thick covering simply as subjects for inquiry and investigation, 

 and not objects for attack. If the skin be broken or removed, they will, in case 

 of need, lap and suck the juice exposed. The same was also true of the grapes; 

 if the skin be broken by violence or burst on account of the fruit becoming over- 

 ripe, the bees lapped and sucked the juice from the exposed parts of the grapes 

 and stored it in the cells for food. They made no attempt to grasp the cuticle 

 of grapes with their mandibles or with their claws. 



If the grapes were cut open or burst from overripe, the bees would lap and 

 suck the juice from the exposed segments of the grape, until they came to the 

 tfilm separating the exposed and broken segments from the unbroken segments. 

 Through and beyond the film separating the segments they appear to be unable 

 to penetrate. I removed the outer skin from many grapes of different kinds, tak- 

 ing care to not rupture the film surrounding the pulp. When these were exposed 

 to the bees, they continued to lap and suck the juice from the outer film until it 

 was dry and smooth as was the film between broken and unbroken segments. 

 They showed no disposition to use their jaws or claws, and the outer film, as well 

 as the film between broken segments, remained whole until the pulp decayed and 

 dried up. 



After continuing the test for thirty days, using such varieties of fruit as could 

 be obtained, we sent to Michigan for varieties not obtainable here. Through the 

 kindness and favor of the president of the Michigan Horticultural Society, Mr. 

 T. T. Lyon, of South Haven, Mich., we secured twenty varieties of grapes, which 

 arrived in excellent condition. Another colony of Italian bees was then placed 

 in the house with those already confined for forty days, and the twenty varieties 

 of grapes were exposed upon plates and suspended from the rafters as before. 

 The conditions naturally prevalent during a severe and protracted drought were 

 again produced, and test again continued for twenty-five days. The result was 

 simply a repetition of the former test. 



The bees showed no more capacity or disposition to offer violence to one va- 

 riety of grapes than another. No more attention was given the thin-skinned 

 varieties than the thick-skinned. As long as the skin remained whole they did 

 not harm the grapes. When the skins were broken by violence, such as by cut- 

 ting or squeezing, the juices exposed were appropriated. The extent of the dam- 

 age bees could do to grapes burst from overripeness depends on the extent of 

 the rupture in the film surrounding the pulp. A wide rupture may be made in 

 the epidermis, or it may be removed, and if the film is unbroken the pulp re- 

 mains whole. The film seldom bursts until the grape is about to decay, or has 

 begun to decay, and then the grape is of little value. In order to determine the 

 size of the opening necessary to be made in order that bees might injure grapes, 

 we punctured the cuticle of the grapes in several bunches with cambric needles 

 of various sizes. The puncture made with the point of medium-sized needles 

 produced no effect. Neither does the puncture made by the sting of insects 

 when ovipositing, until the blister appears and decay progresses with the devel- 

 opment of insect larvae. I found that I might pass a medium-sized needle 

 through a grape from side to side, and bees could obtain no juice excepting that 



