THE HONEY-BEE CAPABLE OF BEING TAMED. 193 



her abdomen easily to sting. If her honey-sack is full, the 

 rings of the abdomen are distended, and she finds more diffi- 

 culty in taking the proper position for stinging. 



381. A second peculiarity, in the nature of bees, gives 

 an almost unlimited control over them, and may be expressed 

 as follows: 



Bees, when frightened, usually begin to fill themselves with 

 honey from their combs. 



If the Apiarist only succeeds in frightening his little sub- 

 jects, he can make them as peaceable as though they were 

 incapable of stinging. By the use of a little smoke, the largest 

 and most fiery colony may be brouglit into complete subjection. 

 As soon as the smoke is blown among them, they retreat before 

 it, raising a subdued or terrified note ; and, seeming to imagine 

 that their honey is to be taken from them, they cram their 

 honey-bags to their utmost capacity. They act either as if 

 aware that only what they can lodge in this inside pocket is 

 safe, or, as if expecting to be driven away from their stores, 

 they are determined to start with a full supply of provisions 

 for the way. The same result may be obtained by shutting 

 them up in their hive and drumming upon it for a short time, 

 but this latter process is only successful with some races of 

 bees easily frightened, like the black bees (549). 



383. The bellows-smokers, in present use, for smoking 

 bees and controlling them, are as far superior to the old 

 method of blowing smoke on them with the mouth from a 

 piece of punk or rotton wood, or a bunch of rags, as the 

 movable-frame hive is superior to the box hive of old. The 

 writer of this, who kept bees in large numbers in several 

 apiaries before the introduction of the practical bellows- 

 smoker, has many a time felt dizzy from the fatigue of blow- 

 ing smoke on the bees. 



Bellows-smokers were used in Europe long ago, but they 

 were not practical, as they could not be used with one hand. 



Quinby, one of the veterans of progressive Apiculture, in- 

 vented the first bellows-smoker that had the bellows on the 



