BOBBER BEES 135 



is very sensitive to the slightest injury. Always handle 

 the queen by the head or wings. 



The stump of the wings should be about % inch long 

 after cutting. By wings, it is meant that both wings on 

 one side should be clipped. Eemember, that the bee is a 

 four-winged insect. After clipping, let the queen run on 

 to the comb, don 't drop her any distance as she is liable to 

 be injured and turn to laying drone eggs (similar to an 

 old queen when the supply of fertilising spermatozoa is 

 exhausted). The thickened rib on the outside of the 

 queen's wing, known as the wing nervure, should be left 

 as long as possible, strip off the "feather" of the wing 

 so to speak. If the nervure of the wing is cut too close to 

 the body, it may "bleed" a little, causing a temporary 

 weakness in the queen. If both anterior wings are cut, 

 the result is not so satisfactory as when the anterior and 

 posterior wings on one side are clipped. A queen can 

 make a very fair effort to fly if the anterior wings are cut 

 level, but when both wiags on one side only are clipped it 

 upsets her balance. When both small wings are removed 

 the insect can fly down but not up. 



ROBBER BEES. 



ROBBING. 



Any of the foregoing operations, with hives or queens, 

 must be modified if there are any robber bees about the 

 apiary. If robbers are very numerous, it is impracticable 

 to do any work without causing serious demoralization 

 and consequent stinging. Now, the novice will be pleased 

 to learn that robbing is mostly the result of carelessness 

 in leaving honey, or sugar syrup, exposed to the bees 

 during a drought of natural nectariferous supplies. 



In some localities, where the flow of honey is constant 

 throughout the working season, the apiarist will ex- 

 perience little or no trouble with robbers. In forests 



