PROCEEDINGS OF THE THIRD ENTOMOLOGICAL MEETING 777 



is known as a nucleus. Formation of nucleus hives is possible when 

 the colonies become strong in the season of honey flow, which coincides 

 with the hot weather at Pusa in March-April. For nucleus hives the 

 first necessity is a fertilized queen. During the experiment at Pusa 

 46 attempts were made to form nucleus hives. In 38 cases, viz., ZA 

 between January and May and 4 between August and October, the 

 queens had full opportunities of fertilization but only three of them 

 could mate and come back to the hive, one being in March, one in August 

 and one in October. The loss of so many queens was due to unfavour- 

 able climatic conditions principally. The scorching heat and high 

 West winds prevailing during the middle of the day, when the cjueens 

 went out on their nuptial flight, killed most of them. They did not 

 come back to the hives. Predaceous birds might have snapped up a few 

 but birds are not probably very important. In the hot weather only 

 one queen out of 34 succeeded in mating and returning to the hive, 

 whUe in autumn two out of four were successful. In autumn however, 

 the honey-flow is very poor at Pusa and queen-rearing operations on a 

 large scale are not possible. All of the three queens reared and fertilized 

 at Pusa were descended from the same mother and mated with the drones 

 of the same colony. Probably on account of inbreeding and, it may be, 

 the enervating influences of the climate, none of them remained prolific 

 for more than a year. But the imported queens remained so for the 

 full periods recorded in other countries. Attempts at importing queens 

 by post from England were not successful. Pusa has proved to be very 

 unsuitable for apicultural operations of the kind necessary for establish- 

 ing the bee-keeping industry in India. No place in the Plains will 

 probably be suitable. The writer has visited the Hill Stations at Shillong, 

 Darjiling and Naini Tal and to him Shillong seems to be very 

 favourable. An apiary with at least twenty colonies should be started 

 at Shillong, where multiplication of colonies and also rearing of queens 

 for sale can be carried on, both in October-November and in the spring. 

 For imparting instruction to the public an additional apiary in some 

 easily accessible place in the Plains will be necessary later on. 



Beeswax. 



Beeswax is obtained by melting the honey-combs. The large combs 

 of the Rock Bee and to a less extent the combs of the Indian Bee are 

 the sources of beeswax in India which has an yearly export trade in 

 this substance of the value of about seven lakhs of rupees. The wax is 

 gathered from the bees by hill and wild tribes and other professional 

 gatherers. The Forest Department leases out the right to collect the 



