THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



9 10 

 u 1 o 



20-21) and when the cluster tem- 

 perature was at its highest point. 

 There had been no brood previous- 

 ly, according to the temperature re- 

 cords as compared with those of 

 this colony earlier and with those 

 of other colonies, nor was there 

 much evidence of increased heat 

 production due to the presence of 

 brood until after the flight, Prob- 

 ably no extra heat was produced 

 for the eggs, and possibly the 

 hatching of the eggs was somewhat 

 delayed by the low outer temper- 

 ature. The effects on the cluster 

 temperature which might be expect- 

 ed from a flight, in relieving the 

 accumulation of feces, were not ob- 

 served, because brood rearing had 

 been begun. 



Colony No. 3 was placed in the 

 constant-temperature room October 

 12, 1912, after a good flight, and 

 readings were begun on Monday, 

 the 14th. In all, 2,165' temperature 

 records were made on Colony 3. 

 The stores provided this colony 

 consisted of honeydew honey, 



which was gathered in the depart- 

 ment apiary and which, since it 

 granulated almost at once, had been 

 removed by melting up the combs 

 which contained it. After this opera- 

 tion it remained liquid. During the 

 summer of 1912 some of this honey- 

 dew honey was fed to a colony in 

 the open, during a dearth of nectar, 

 and was stored in new combs above 

 the brood chamber, in which no 

 cells of pollen were to be found. 

 After the second storing the honey- 

 dew honey was clear, well ripened, 

 and did not granulate. This colony 

 was also in a 6-frame hive,, as 

 previously described, and contained 

 five thermometers (Nos. 14-18) 

 among the combs. It is of course 

 well known to beekeepers that 

 honeydew honey is not a good food 

 for winter. 



When this colony was first put 

 into the constant-temperature room 

 it behaved much as did Colony 

 No. 1, except that the temperature 

 varied between 69° and 78.7° F. for 

 the first week, being slightly high- 

 er and mere variable than that of 

 Colony No. 1. The second week it 

 remained much the same, the tem- 

 perature, however, varying between 

 69° and80° F. From this time on 

 the temperature of the center of 

 the cluster rose rapidly, never 

 dropping below 79° F. from October 



29 almost to the close of the read- 

 ings. After November 4 the tem- 

 perature remained above 86° F., 

 and after November 11 it dropped 

 below 89° F. only twice until the 

 end. Thermometer 17 at first read 

 about 4° below thermometer 14, but 

 after November 11 they were close 

 together until November 25, when 

 thermometer 17 began to cool 

 rapidly, due to loss of bees, and 

 after November 30 thermometer 

 14 cooled rapidly until, on Decem- 

 ber 9, it showed that no more bees 

 remained alive. Prom December 2 

 to 7, inclusive, there was little heat 

 generated, due to the scarcity of 

 bees. It is of interest to observe 

 the records of thermometer 16, 

 near the cluster, but usually out- 

 side of it. It at first showed a 

 temperature but little higher than 

 the two thermometers away from 

 the cluster, but on October 31 

 it began to rise until, on November 

 12, it reached 80.5° P., when it 

 was doubtless covered by the bees. 

 Even the two thermometers (15 

 and 18) clear to the back of the 

 hive rose until, on November 13, 

 they recorded 61.5° P. These ther- 

 mometers showed about the same 

 temperatures for about 10 days, and 

 then these two and thermometer 

 1 6 showed a cooling, since the bees 

 were dying so fast that there were 

 no longer enough to warm up these, 

 thermometers away from the cen- 

 ter of activity. It was to be ex- 

 pected that this colony would die, 

 and the experiment was performed 

 to learn the phenomena incident 

 to the loss. 



Before summing up the results 

 of these two colonies, Nos. 1 and 

 3, it may be stated that, so far 

 as the evidence here presented is 

 concerned, the results as far as 

 here discussed are confirmed by 

 records from 10 other colonies kept 

 in the constant-temperature room, 

 but fed other foods and otherwise 

 different. There is in all of the 

 records no evidence which the au- 

 thors can interpret as at all contrary 

 to the views here stated. A discus- 

 sion of these other colonies is re- 

 served. 



It is evident from the behavior 

 of colony No. 1 that at least one 

 factor entered which gradvially 

 caused the bees in the cluster to 

 generate more and more heat un- 

 til at the beginning of the special 



