312 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



NATIONAL WRITING PAPER AND 

 ENVELOPES FOR 3Ii]3IBERS 



Containing Member's Name and 

 Address, Also Retnru Card on 

 Ujiper Left Comer of Enve- 

 lope 



These letter heads,, as formerly 

 furnished, contain the names of 

 the officers and directors of the Na- 

 tional and their postoffice address, 

 etc. 



Use printed letter heads and do 

 business like busines men when 

 selling your crop of honey next 

 fall. 



The National by buying In large 

 quantities, are able to quote 2 00 

 sheets of paper, 8%xll, at $1.00; 

 200 envelopes, 3%x6y2, at $1.00. 

 Kindly enclose extra for postage 

 on three pounds to go by parcel 

 post from Owosso, Michigan. 



Address all orders to 

 National Bee-Keepers' Association 

 NORTH STAR, MICHIGAN 



The Temperature of the Honeybee 



Cluster in Winter 



By E. F. Phillips, Ph. D. and 

 George S. Demuth 



(Continued from page 28 3) 



temperature continued to rise, the 

 cluster temperature increased still 

 more rapidly, until at 8:15 a. m., 

 March 11, it reached 93" F. (room 

 temperature, 64.2° F.). A little 

 brine was now turned on, sufficient 

 to lower the temperature gradual- 

 ly to .58° F. at 9 a. m., March 12, 

 and it again rose to 63.3° F. at 

 5:45 p. m., March 15. During this 

 period the cluster temperature fol- 

 lowed the room temperature, but 

 remained constantly over 2 0° warm- 

 er. The room was again cooled 

 slowly, and the cluster temperature 

 dropped until on March 16, at 3 p. 

 m., the room was 49° F. and the 

 cluster 77.5° F. As the room contin- 

 ued to cool, the cluster tempera- 

 ture Increased, the bees responding 

 to the colder temperature, until at 

 4.15 a. m., March 17, the room was 

 48° F. and the cluster 88° F. The 

 rorm then gradually warmed, and 

 again the temperature of the cluster 

 dropped and then again rose with 

 the room temperature, remaining 

 always over 20° warmer. At 6:45 

 p. m March 19, the brine was 



turned on full and the room cooled 

 rapidly, reaching the minimum of 

 13° F. at 9 p. m., March 20. At 

 no time, however, did any of the 

 thermometers in the hive record a 

 temperature below 33° F. Here it 

 remained constant within 0.1° F. 

 for about six hours, during which 

 time the cluster temperature var- 

 ied between 86.5° and 89.5° F. 

 (a difference between the room and 

 the cluster temperatures of 7 3° to 

 7 6° F. ) The brine was now shut off 

 and the room again warmed until 

 9 a. m., March 24, when it reach- 

 ed a temperature of 44.5° F. Dur- 

 ing this warming the cluster cool- 

 ed until at the close it was varying 

 between 72° and 79° F. 



As stated above, the colony was 

 now (9 a. m., March 24) removed 

 for a flight and put back the same 

 day at 7 p. m. In the meantime the 

 room was cooled to 33° F. When 

 the bees were put back into the 

 room the temperature of the en- 

 tire inside of the hive showed great 

 variation and naturally an increase 

 due to the warming up while out of 

 doors and to the activities of a 

 good flight. The points outside the 

 cluster dropped lapidly, but it was 

 midnight, March 25 (31 hours), 

 before the curves of temperature 

 again appeared normal. The room 

 was slowly warmed to 63.2° F. at 

 6:30 p. m., March 26,, and then 

 slightly cooled to 54° F. at 6 a. 

 m., March 27, and again warmed to 

 5 8.5° F. at the close of the series 

 4 p. m., March 2 8. After the flight 

 the temperature of the cluster 

 never dropped below 89.5° F., 

 and the highest temperature 

 reached was over 95° F. (soon aft- 

 er the flight.) Thermometer 6 

 remained high, but thermometer 2, 

 which had previously been high, 

 now approached the other thermom- 

 eters, probably due to a rapid loss 

 of bees and to a decrease in the 

 number of bees during the flight. 

 It must be recalled that these bees 

 had been confined for an abnormal- 

 ly long time and were subjected to 

 treatment which is at least unusual. 

 After this colony was taken from 

 the room for the last time it was 

 found that thermometer 6 was 

 over a patch of larvae, and, estimat- 

 ing as accurately as possible, the 

 eggs from which these hatched 

 must have been laid at the time 

 when the room was coldest (March 



