404 



GLEAi^INGS I:N^ BEE CULTURE. 



Dec. 



Queeng; Continued from last month. 



AGE AT WHICH VIRGIX QUEENS TAKE THEIR 

 WEDDING FLIGHT. 



Our books seem to disagree considerably 

 on this i)oint. and I am afraid that many of 

 the book-makers find it easier to copy from 

 thesayinffs of others, than to make practi- 

 cal experiments. It has been variously sta- 

 ted, at from two to ten days ; some go as far 

 as to say that the queen goes out to meet the 

 drones the day after leaving the cell. It is 

 quite likely that some difference arises from 

 the fact, that queens often stay in the cell a 

 day or two, after they are strong enough to 

 walk about. Sometimes a queen will be 

 found walking about the combs when she is 

 so young as to be almost white ; I have oft- 

 en seen beginners rejoice at their beautiful 

 yellow queens, saying that they were yellow 

 all over, without a bit of black on them; but 

 when looked at again, they would be found 

 to be as dark as tlie generality of queens. 

 At other times when they come out of the 

 cell, they will look, both in color and size, 

 as if they miglit be three or four days old. 

 The queens in our apiary generally begin to 

 crawl about the entrance of the hive, possi- 

 bly looking out now and then, when 5 or 6 

 days old. The next day, supposing of course 

 we have fine weather, they will generally go 

 out and try their wings a little. These flights 

 are usually taken in the warmest part of the 

 afternoon. I know of no prettier or more 

 interesting sight to the apiarist, than the 

 first flight of a queen. Perhaps a few hours 

 before, he had looked at her, and been dis- 

 appointed at her small and insignificant ap- 

 pearance ; but now, as she ventures out cau- 

 tiously, on the alighting board, with her 

 wings slightly raised, her tapering body 

 elongated and amazingly increased in size, 

 he looks in wonder, scarcely believing she 

 can be the same insect. She runs this way 

 and that, something as does a young bee, 

 only apparently much more excited at the 

 prospect of soaring aloft in the soft summer 

 air. Finally she tremblingly spreads those 

 long silky wings, and with a graceful move- 

 ment that I cannot remember to have seen 

 equalled anywhere in the whole scope of an- 

 imated nature, she swings from her feet, 

 while her long body sways pendulously, as 

 slie hovers about the entrance of the hive. 

 When I first beheld one on the wing, there 

 was a queer feeling of having seen some- 

 thing similar, years ago, and I might have 

 reasoned tliat I was remembering something 

 my father or grandfather had seen, did I not 

 know that none of them Avere ever bee-keep- 



ers. Below, I have tried to give you a 

 ture of 



pic- 



A VIRGIN QUEEN UPON THE WING. 



A worker bee hovers about the entrance 

 and carefully takes his points, when he tries 

 his wings for the first time, but she, seem- 

 ing to feel instinctively that she is of more 

 value to the colony than many, many work- 

 ers, with the most scrupulous exactness, 

 notes every minute point and feature of the 

 exterior of her abode, often alighting and 

 taking wing again and again, to make sure 

 she knows all about it. I remember that 

 when I saw one, for the firsttime, go through 

 with all these manffiuvres. I became impa- 

 tient of so much circumlocution, and if I did 

 not say, I felt like saying, 



"There! there! old lady; you certainly 

 know where you live now; do you suppose a 

 fellow can stay herQ all the afternoon, neg- 

 lecting his business, just to see you start off 

 on your first journey in life?'' 



Bye and bye, she ventures to circle a little 

 way from home, always bringing back soon, 

 but being gone longer and longer each time. 

 She sometimes goes back into the hive sat- 

 isfied, without going out of sight at all ; but, 

 in this case, she will be sure to take a longer 

 flight next day, or a half hour later, in the 

 same day. During these seasons, she seems 

 to be so intent on the idea she has in lier lit- 

 tle head, that she forgets all about surround- 

 ing things, and instead of being frightened, 

 as usual, at your opening the hive, she will 

 Avill pay no attention to you ; but if you lift 

 up the comb she is on, will take her flight 

 from that as well as from anywhere else. I 

 have caught them in my hand at such times, 

 without their being frightened at all, but as 

 soon as they were allowed to go, they were 

 off, as if nothing had happened. After she 

 is satisfied that she will know the place she 

 ventures out boldly, and from the fact of her 



