BREEDING. 71 



YOUNG BEES REARED WITHOUT WATER. 



That a large proportion of pollen or bee-bread is 

 used to feed the young bees, is, I think, very evident. 

 I have almost invariably found, that when breeding 

 is commenced, pollen is stored immediately adjoin- 

 ing or very near the brood ; a strip of three or more 

 cells in width generally surrounds it. If at a season 

 when they are gathering and storing it, and fre- 

 quently before they get any from abroad, they will 

 remove it from some other part of the combs, so as 

 to have it convenient, apparently for immediate use. 

 This is also noticed by Bevan and Quinby. 



Pollen and honey are, I think, all that is necessary 

 or used in rearing brood, Langstroth to the contrary, 

 notwithstanding. 



I have had bees confined for a period of forty- 

 eight days, about one-third of which time they were 

 in a warm latitude, in transit to California; not a 

 single drop of water did they get during all that 

 time, and yet they reared and matured brood on the 

 way ; and it was found in some strong colonies, in all 

 stages from the egg to those just emerging from the 

 cells, on their arrival at Sacramento. In this case I 

 am quite certain that nothing but honey and pollen 

 were used to feed the young, or indeed to supply the 

 wants of the old or mature bees of the colony; 

 hence I conclude that these two ingredients form the 

 food of the young bees. In this my experience ac- 

 cords exactly with Mr. Quinby. 



He says : " Some think it (water) is necessary in 



