108 



Beekeeping 



Donhoffi states that he offered a stick dipped in honey 

 to young bees daily. Until they were fifteen days old they 

 did not lick the honey eagerly. The younger bees never 

 attempted to Uck it, but as they grew older they paid more 

 attention to it. He concludes that the "impulse for gather- 

 ing honey" is not developed in young 

 bees. Not until his experimental bees 

 were seventeen days old did he find any on 

 his outdoor feeders and not until they were 

 nineteen days old did any fly to the field. 



Comb building. 



If there is need 

 for more combs, the 

 workers form cur- 

 tains by hanging on 

 one another from 

 the top of the hive 

 or cavity. The 

 temperature is raised 

 and in a few hours 

 wax-scales may be 

 seen on the ventral 

 sides of the abdo- 

 mens of the hang- 

 ing bees. Finally, 

 some of these scales 

 are removed and manipulated and the bees begin building 

 new comb. The small pieces of wax are put approximately 

 in the right place and are then sculptured and molded into 



Fig. 53. — Ventral plates 

 of the abdomen of a 

 worker bee. 





FiG. 54. — Inner sur- 

 face of the left 

 hind leg of a 

 worker bee, show- 

 ing a wax-scale. 



in a cellar for winter, in connection with work of Demuth and the author 

 on winter activities. The entire colony became active and a high tempera- 

 ture was maintained. The condition was removed by taking the colonies 

 from the cellar for a flight. Bees that emerged from brood combs were 

 also kept in a warm room, away from older workers. These had distended 

 abdomens and if one escaped from the hive it usually flew at once to the 

 window, leaving a spot of feces on the pane. 



1 Donhoff, 1855. Eichstadt Bienenzeitung, p. 163. 



