IS 



JOURNAL OP HORTICULTUKE AND COTTAGE GAEDENEK. 



[ Jaaaary 3, 1865. 



Dorkings do I write ? aye Dorkings in a southern covmty, 

 the fowl, par excellence, for the south, &c. — had two classes, 

 and ,£12 offered. They mustered 35 pens. 



The " cross-breds " had ,£3 10s. oflered, and they mus- 

 tered only 2S pens ! Do we need any further facts, that in 

 a "southern" county these "mongrels" ought to remain 

 unnoticed ? "Why do persons keep such wretched birds ? 

 Strange, no other breed came near this inipopular fowl as a 

 payer to the show, and in the prize list eleven pens were 

 mentioned in one class, and six in two classes of Dorkings ! 



The coffin does not appear to have been strong enough I — 

 T. B. A. Z. 



The Brighton Poultiy Show has aiforded another, and, I 

 trust, a conclusive proof of the growing popularity of the 

 Brahmas, and of the especial esteem in which they are held 

 in the sonth of England. It also proves conclusively the 

 necessity for dividing the Brahma class at any first-rate 

 show, as has been already done at Islington and Man- 

 chester. The following are the numbers in each class : — 



Brahmas a8 



Coloured Dorking Chickens ... 22 



Bantams 17 



Coloured Dorkings 13 



Any variety 13 



Game 13 



Game Chickens 11 



Gold Hambarghs 11 



Silver Hamburghs 11 



Cochins 8 



Spanish Chickens 8 



Dorking Cockerelo 7 



Spanish 6 



Polish 6 



Game Cocks 3 



It wiU be seen that the Brahma class was the largest in 

 the Show, beating the Dorking chickens by six, the Ban- 

 tams by eleven pens, and more than doubling any other 

 dass. As to quality, it is sufficient to say, that eleven pens 

 of Brahmas were noticed by the Judge, being treble the 

 average number noticed in the other classes. — Bkahma 



POOTEA. 



A IfEW CHAPTER IN THE NATUEAL HISTORY 

 OF THE BEE. 



BEE COMMOTIONS AND QUEEN ENCASEMENTS. 



This is a new chapter in apiarian science, and future his- 

 torians who would take up the pen to write a systematic 

 and comprehensive ti-eatise on the honey bee must, if their 

 Imowledge is not behind the age in which they live, devote 

 a whole chapter to the consideration of the very interesting 

 and novel subject — bee commotions and queen encasements. 



The manuscript which forms the substance of a portion of 

 the following article has lain aside in my repositories for 

 several years, and was not, therefore, originally intended for 

 The JotTENAL OF HoETictTLTirEE. The peculiar and hitherto 

 mysterious facts to which it makes reference are of such a 

 olmracter that I confess I felt somewhat unwilling publicly 

 to hazard a theory regarding phenomena which further in- 

 vestigation and a more enlarged experience might possibly 

 cause me to alter or abandon. Moreover, at the period 

 referred to, the subject itself had apparently escaped the 

 attention of both the naturalist and practical bee-keeper — no 

 British author, to my knowledge, having taken any notice 

 of it, and no apiarian 1 ever met having made it a matter of 

 study or investigation. I believed I had made a discovery 

 of a very peculiar character — a discovery of cei'tain strange 

 phenomena occasionally occurring in the apiai-y in regard 

 to which the queen occupied a prominent part, and which 

 were evidently caused by something affecting her circum- 

 stances or condition. In this Journal I have more than 

 once hinted at the subject, and in the concluding paragraph 

 of an article written by me in No. 05 (20th of January, 1863), 

 I stated that in investigating the curious phenomena in 

 question I had bestowed considerable attention and thought, 

 and though I could not say that I had been able to unravel 

 entirely the tme solution, yet if ever induced to take up 

 pen to endeavour to cut this Gordian knot, to unravel this 

 physical mystery, I should describe the subject of my essay 

 to be " A New Chapter in the Natural History of the Bee." 



While now, therefore, taking up my pen in fulfilment of 

 this promise to narlrate the results of my experience on this 

 interesting subject, I have thought it better to preserve, as 

 I have already said, a portion of the original manuscript 

 referred to, if for no other purpose than to show the changes 



which my own views have undergone in the course of my 

 investigations : these extend over a jzieriod of some eight or 

 ten years. It is with diffidence I confess that, even now, 

 I attempt a solution; for 1 know* that the subject in some 

 of its aspects has not only been brought before the readers 

 of this Journal in 1S62 by that indefatigable and minute 

 apiarian observer Mr. Woodbury, but has also I notice 

 been a theme of controversy among the leading apiarians 

 in Germany. 



Few naturalists or bee historians seem to take any notice 

 at all of what I choose to designate " bee commotions and 

 queen encasements," or if they do, it is only in an incidental 

 manner, and in reference exclusively to such commotions as 

 follow the loss of a queen. There are other commotions, 

 however, v\hich take place in the apiary, and which the ob- 

 servant cultivator will not fail to notice, although he may 

 not consider them of sufficient importance thoroughly to 

 investigate and explore. My attention was eai'ly directed 

 to the consideration of these, but for a long time I was at a 

 loss to account for them; they appeared to me a perfect 

 enigma, and wrapped up in profound mystery. 



To such as are not well versed in the habits of the bee I 

 may explain that there are three kinds of commotion which 

 may occur in a hive, and which differ from each other in 

 some essential pai'tioulars. It is only the intelligent ob- 

 server, however, that can discriminate between them. The 

 one which is most palpable is that which takes place under 

 the following circumstances. Suppose the queen to be re- 

 moved from a swarm newly hived, what takes place ? The 

 bees very soon thereafter on becoming aware of the loss 

 get agitated, run about in all directions throughout the 

 hive, explore every corner in quest of her. The agitation 

 increases as the knowledge of the loss extends itself among 

 the masses. The bees rush furiously out and in at the 

 entrance, flying about in all directions, until, despairing of 

 finding out their lost sovereign, they desert the hive in a 

 body, and after filling the air in wild confusion return to the 

 parent hive from which they had pi-imarily issued. The 

 origin of this commotion is quite manifest to the merest 

 tyro in bee-knowledge. 



Another kind of commotion occurs from a like cause, the 

 loss of the queen, but under dififerent cu'oumstances and 

 conditions, and the commotion among the bees wOl conse- 

 quently manifest itself in another form. Suppose you re- 

 move the queen in the summer months from a healthy stock 

 hive containing eggs and brood in all stages, what follows? 

 In a short time— in less than half an hour, perhaps— mani- 

 festations of the loss will be observable. The bees will 

 become agitated ; the younger bees, especiaUy, will be seen 

 running out and in at the entrance, restless, and searching 

 all over the hive in quest of their missing sovereign. The 

 commotion in this case, however, is partial only and slight 

 when compared with the former case, and its character will 

 be more or less influenced by the condition and circumstances 

 of the hive for the time being. In such a case as the one 

 now supposed the commotion generally subsides in a short 

 time, indeed, it is sometimes so slight as often to attract 

 little notice, even by the more observant; for, with the ex- 

 ception of the younger bees occasionally afterwards display- 

 ing signs of agitation and restlessness, the industry and 

 work of the hive are otherwise imimpeded, and all will 

 apparently go on as before. The difference in the character 

 of the commotions in those two cases lies in this— that in 

 the latter there are in the hive materials out of which the 

 bees cm repaii- the loss they have sustained, and rear for 

 themselves a new and youthful successor, which in due time 

 will exorcise all the functions, and discharge all the require- 

 ments of queen and mother. If such materials, however, be 

 not present in the hive in the case Kupposed ; if, for instance, 

 the queen die during winter or early spring, or late in 

 autumn when no such eggs or brood exist, then so soon as 

 the bees become cognisant of the loss the commotion will 

 assume a more aggravated form, and be more tumultuous 

 in its character. Great excitement will prevail through- 

 out the entire hive, which extends sometimes over several 

 days, during which period I have often witnessed partial 



• In MnvT 18fl.1, Mr. Woodbviry wroto me "I wish you would take np 

 your pen and endeavour to unravel this inyr.tcry, which Is « comiilete puzzle 

 to me." The Numbers containing notices both fiom bl» pen and "Intksti- 

 oatok's" were kindly sent mc by the Kditors for perusal. 



