QUEEN-REARING IN ENGLAND. 75 



The organ is described as a canal. " At the bottom of 

 this canal a large number of small glands open, each one of 

 which has an oval cell with a well-defined globule. From 

 each cell a duct starts out, and extends to the bottom of the 

 canal." Nassanoff further said that the walls of the duct 

 are of a chitinous texture. He assigned a secretory function 

 to the glands, and suggested that they produced the perspira- 

 tion. Zoubareff thought that the excess of moisture that is 

 contained in nectar freshly gathered from flowers might be 

 voided by these glands.* 



The humming, accompanied by the exposure of the mem- 

 brane and production of the scent, takes place under the 

 following several conditions : — 



1. In a swarm, before it has settled down in its new 

 hive. Here it is performed very freely, especially by the 

 bees surrounding the queen when the main body of bees is 

 separated from her, also by the bees that are the first to 

 enter the new hive. The scent, when produced by a swarm, 

 is very strong, and the attractive effect of the bees emitting 

 it is very great. This effect is well seen if one removes the 

 queen for about fifteen minutes and then places her in a spot 

 a few yards from where the swarm is. As soon as a few 

 bees discover the queen they settle close to her, and at once 

 commence humming and exposing the membrane. t This 

 soon attracts other bees, and these also hum and expose the 

 membranei with the result that the whole swarm is quickly 

 drawn to the queen. 



2. At the flight-hole of a hive. Here the action is per- 

 formed either {a) by bees that are returning tired or be- 

 numbed by cold from the fields to the hive, this being chiefly 

 in the evening or in unfavourable weather ; or {b) by young 

 bees on returning from their first flight, a number of these 

 usually flying together about midday when weather is favour- 

 able ; or {c) by some of the bees that are returning to their 

 hive after their first flight following a long confinement in 

 the hive, as in winter. In each of these cases the bees have 

 been uncertain as to the exact position of the entrance to 

 their hive, but when they disco^'er it, no matter how feeble 



• See " The Honey Bee," by T. W. Cowan, 2nd ed., pp. 94 and 95. 

 t The queen herself has a strong attractive power, bnt the attractive 

 power of a body of workers without her cau easily be seen. 



