THE FLIGHT ACTIVITIES OF THE HONEYBEE 33 



Table 4. — Record of exits and returns, total and per quarter hour, etc. — Con. 









Bees 



Exits 



Returns 









Bees 



Exits 



Returns 



Time 



Total 



Total 



in one- 



in one- 



Time 



Total 



Total 



in one- 



in one- 



exits 



returns 



field 



fourth 



fourth 



exits 



returns 



field 



fourth 



fourth 









hour 



hour 









hour 



hour 









Number 



Number 



Number 









Number 



Number 



Number 



3.00 



13, 357 



9,816 



3,541 



529 



450 



5.45 



16, 861 



15, 538 



1,323 



252 



594 



3.15 



13, 831 



10, 354 



3,477 



474 



538 



6.00 



17, 040 



16, 022 



1,018 



179 



484 



3.30 



14, 378 



11,265 



3,113 



547 



911 



6.15 



17, 225 



16, 451 



774 



185 



429 



3.45 



14, 820 



12, 051 



2,769 



442 



786 



6.30 



17, 298 



16, 654 



644 



73 



203 



4.00 



15. 082 



12, 570 



2,512 



262 



519 



6.45 



17, 350 



16, 788 



562 



52 



134 



4.15 



15, 334 



13, 007 



2,327 



252 



437 



7.00 



17, 394 



16, 907 



487 



44 



119 



4.30 



15, 688 



13, 370 



2,318 



354 



363 



7.15 



17, 463 



17, 056 



407 



69 



149 



4.45 



15, 986 



13, 812 



2,174 



298 



442 



7.30 



17, 533 



17, 191 



342 



70 



135 



5.00 



16. 212 



14, 149 



2,063 



226 



337 



7.45 



17, 584 



17, 266 



318 



51 



75 



5.15 



16, 508 



14, 574 



1,934 



296 



425 



8.00 



17, 619 



17, 305 



314 



35 



39 



5.30 



16, 609 



14, 944 



1,665 



101 



370 















On any day when the conditions governing flight are fairly uni- 

 form throughout the course of the day, it has been found, as has 

 been previously explained (p. 26), that sooner or later the flights 

 approach a state of equilibrium (Tables 3 and 4), the group of bees 

 in the field remaining almost constant, the flow of bees to this group 

 being balanced by the flow from it. The magnitude of the group 

 of bees participating in flight, but remaining in the hive, and which 

 will eventually reissue therefrom, must therefore also remain ap- 

 proximately constant. Then, again, just as there is a direct ratio 

 between the number of bees in the field and the time they are spend- 

 ing in the field, so must there also be a direct ratio between the 

 number of bees in the hive taking part in the flight and the time they 

 spend in the hive between the trips during the period of equilibrium. 



If we assume that on May 15 there were as many bees in the hive 

 participating in the flight as there were bees in the field, the bees 

 were spending as much time in the hive as out of it. The inferior 

 limit to the number of bees participating in the flight on this day 

 would then be 3,134 bees, and the maximum limit to the number of 

 trips would be 10.27. This figure 3,134 seems to be a relatively small 

 fraction of the total colony, which at this time must have consisted 

 of some 5 pounds of bees (about 25,000). These figures seem to 

 suggest, therefore, that even in a strong honey flow the bees spend 

 more time in the hive between the voyages than they do on the 

 voyage itself. 



THE DEATH RATE OF THE COLONY 



Since the mechanism of the gates prevented the bees from carrying 

 out their dead, these collected behind the incoming gates, where they 

 w^re counted and removed every time the gates were detached for 

 cleaning. This meant that at certain periods they were counted 

 every day and at others once in four or five days, depending upon 

 the condition of the instruments. On only one occasion did the 

 count ever exceed 100 bees. The total number of bees which died 

 in the hive while the instruments were attached was 1,060. This is 

 1.63 per cent of the total number of bees (65,178) recorded lost from 

 all causes. In handling the apparatus the writer has gained the 

 rather indefinite impression that as a rule there is a greater error 

 on the outgoing gates than on the incoming. If this is true, the 

 actual percentage of deaths in the hive is slightly above this figure. 



