THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



331 



same traits. Later an article appeared 

 translated from the Russian, written by M. 

 Pritouleako, an employe of the same sta- 

 tion, who investigated the bright race on 

 the Persian frontier. He comes to the con- 

 clusion that the bright race of the Caucasus 

 is identical with the bee which is found 

 throughout Persia ; but t.o far from having 

 the same traits as the gray bee, it is very 

 cross and much addicted to robbing. It 

 has but little inclination to swarm. The 

 first four segments of the abdomen are of a 

 bright orange : the hair, thorax and abdo- 

 men of a bright yellow. The translator, G. 

 Kaudratiefif, thinks it may be identical with 

 the Egyptian bee. ) 



Of the black varieties, the heath bee is 

 almost exactly like the common black bee 

 in appearance, but seems to be a little dark- 

 er. Its home is the heath of Lueneberg, the 

 duchy of Braunschweig, and the province of 

 Hanover. It is a product of contiuoue 

 breeding from the best and "swarmiest" 

 colonies. The peculiar management of the 

 heath, and their continuous selective breed- 

 ing, have produced a variety peculiarly fit- 

 ted to their local conditions. But for regions 

 having an early flow it is unsuitable, as it 

 devotes its whole energy to brood-rearing 

 in spring and summer. It is well fitted for 

 rapid increase, in the hands of a master. 

 The characteristics of the Garniolan bee are 

 much like those of the heath bee. The 

 Lower Austraian bee is a variety which 

 sometimes has the first segment of the ab- 

 domen a rusty red. It has but little inclin- 

 ation to build drone-comb. The Banater 

 bee is almost identical with the Lower Au- 

 stralian. 



For the primitive yellow varieties Herr 

 Alfonsns has no use, and makes a most em- 

 phatic protest against any admixture of 

 southern blood for (lerman bee-keepers. 

 He considers the common black bee the best 

 for middle and north (rermany. In regions 

 with only a spring flow, he admits that It- 

 alians gather more. ( It is worthy of notice 

 that Herr Liedloff, editor of the Leipziger 

 Bieneiizeitung, prefers a cross between the 

 black and the Italian. ) 



Leipzigeb Bienenzeituno. — The common 

 belief that feeding incites robbing, and that 

 it should be done in the evening, is sailed 

 into by W. .Jaks, who claims that the correct 

 principle is to attract the bees of the colony 

 towards, and not from, the entrance while 

 feeding is going on. If this is done, the 



slightest attempt at robbing is nipped in 

 the bud by the unusual crowd of home bees. 

 The scent of the fresh feed being stored in 

 the cells must be far more apparent, from itB 

 greater area, to outside bees than the scent 

 of the feeder. He reaches these conclusions 

 from the use of an entrance feeder, applied 

 to the flight hole. After trial. Editor 

 Liedloff gives this feeder a warm approval. 

 Some things about bee-keeping are not 

 practical and never can be, and yet nearly 

 every practical bee-keeper will resort to 

 considerable hemming and hawing before 

 he will admit that he doesn't know them. 

 Such a problem is how to account for the 

 place of propolis in bee ecouomy. N. Lud- 

 wig makes it probable that the primary ob- 

 ject of propolis is to serve as an outer cover- 

 ing or envelope for the colony, as a protec- 

 tioa again it weathe • and eneuies. It is 

 thus analogous to the outer walls of a yellow - 

 jackets' nest. It has been occasionally ob- 

 served that when unfavorable weather be- 

 gins to overtake a colony, in a warm region, 

 which has built its combs in the open air, 

 it closes all comb spaces with propolis ex- 

 cept holes for entrance and exit, and even 

 plasters the outer surfaces of the small end 

 combs. Colonies of the southern races are 

 especially lavish of propolis at the hive en- 

 trances, doubtless to aid in protecting them- 

 selves against enemies. ( Hence the ancient 

 Greek name " propolis, " meaning " before 

 the city, " ). e. defenses or outworks. ) 

 Since an outer covering should have a 

 smooth inner surface in order to be comfort- 

 able for the bees to walk over, we have f^e 

 one suflicient reason why bees overlay every 

 roughness with propolis, in the hives given 

 them. A hive having a perfectly smooth 

 inner surface, without corners, would be 

 propolized very little. Herr Ludwig does 

 not pursue the subject further ; but possibly 

 we may infer that the fact that it is natural 

 for the bees to use propolis has not so much 

 to do with the sealed cover question as some 

 have supposed — as long as the bees are 

 protected from enemies and chilling 

 draughts, the requirements which first led 

 them to use propolis are satisfied. 



At any rate, it is decidedly unscientific to 

 explain the traits of bees by saying that 

 they are severally implanted as instincts by 

 the Creator. We all agree that the funda- 

 mental laws of existance are beyond onr 

 t power to explain ; the applications of those 

 laws, however, demand no special interpo- 



