2 SPECIAL BtTLLETIN NO. 4g 



swarming instinct, and such kindred phenomena. It is through lack of 

 knowledge of this sort that so many succeed in rearing only inferior queens, 

 fail to rear any at all, or tho successful in getting, a few respectable cells 

 built, lose them in introducing them into their colonies. Still others who 

 purchase valuable Italian queens from the University or from southern breed- 

 ers, violate the habits and instincts of the bees in their attempts to intro- 

 duce them and thus lose the major portion. 



The first fundamental fact to be retained in mind is that bees are wild, 

 untamable, uneducable creatures. Because through long ages of evolution 

 they have developed organs and body parts specialized for functioning in 

 certain definite ways, for giving fixed responses to given conditions of their 

 environment, it is almost impossible for a beekeeper to modify their behavior 

 to any appreciable degree. It is hardly safe to say that they are mere organic 

 machines which respond to any given situation in any unalterably fixed 

 manner. No doubt they may learn a very few habits of behavior which they 

 do not possess when they see the light of day, but these habits are so limited 

 in scope and so controlled by their fixed instincts as to be negligible. Their 

 ability to make special adaptation of their behavior to special conditions of 

 environment is almost nil. They do not plan actions; they do not adopt 

 new ways of doing work; they do not learn by experience. Therefore, the 

 apiarist in planning his work will do wisely to recognize that the bees 

 possess complex systems of behavior adapted to meet every set of en- 

 vironmental conditions that confront them and that by no amount of work 

 and manipulation can he break down these behavior systems and substitute 

 new ones for them. 



HOW TO USE BEE BEHAVIOR 



What, then, can the beekeeper do? He can use the instincts and habits 

 of the bees as they are. Tho he can not change their instincts he can to a 

 great extent control those conditions which bring their instincts to function- 

 ing in overt behavior. His problem is to observe bee behavior so that he 

 may learn what conditions bring about desirable behavior, and what ones 

 result in undesirable behavior. Thus he may learn what conditions in the 

 hive and outside induce in bees the swarming impulse. Perhaps he may 

 then by eliminating one or two of those conditions check swarming alto- 

 gether. In studying the queen-rearing problem he must learn the conditions 

 which lead bees to build queen cells most readily, to feed growing queen 

 larvae the most and richest food, to keep them constantly at a high tem- 

 perature, and to tolerate the presence of one virgin after she emerges from 

 her cell. 



CONDITIONS UNDER WHICH BEES BUILD CELLS 



There are three different sets of conditions which bring about cell build- 

 ing. Every bee man knows that when bees are moved by the swarming 

 impulse they first build queen cells. Probably every bee man also knows 

 that such cells are almost invariably large and well fed, and that the 

 queens which emerge from them are large, vigorous, and prolific. What 

 are the factors in the bees' environment which result in such excellent work 

 on their, part? First, the bees prepare to swarm after the season is well ad- 

 vanced and the average daily temperature is so high that they can easily 

 provide their cells with the optimum amount of heat. Second, such cell 

 building colonies are almost always strong colonies. They possess many 



