64 MONTANA EXPERIMENT STATION 
the introduction of queens into strange colonies. The preparation 
of a suitable cage for mailing queens long distances has made possi- 
ble not only the introduction of many valuable races of bees, but 
also the whole industry of queen rearing and trade which in itself 
has grown to great.importance. The most generally used cage now 
is the Benton cage, or a modified form of it. This cage was per- 
fected by the writer’s father, Mr. Frank Benton, when shipping 
queens from Munich on long journeys, even to Australia. At this 
time also was perfected the making of a suitable bee candy for 
food upon these long voyages and the discovery of the right ingredi- 
ents. The pipe covered introducing cage of wire cloth which has 
been found to be one of the most successful devices for this work, 
was also constructed by the writer’s father. A fuller description 
of it and its uses will be given later. 
The Benton mailing cage is made of well seasoned, non-resin- 
ous, soft pine, in two or three sizes, the essential feature being not 
so much its size as its plan of construction, for the size may vary 
with the length of the journey. The domestic cage commonly also 
tsed as a trans-Atlantic cage, measures about three and a half.inhces 
in length by an inch and an eight in width and three-quarters of an’ 
inch in depth. In this are bored three seven-eights inch auger holes, 
the first or end one of which is waxed to serve as a food apartment 
by pouring in melted wax and quickly pouring it out again. The 
third or opposite end apartment is supplied with six awl holes on 
each side for ventilation, these holes being sunk in a double groove 
en the outside so that no flat surface coming up against the cage 
in the mail sack can shut off ventilation. The middle apartment 
is designed as a place into which the bees can go if cold or to get 
away from the light of the end apartment. The passage way be- 
tween these two apartments is made somewhat smaller than the 
entrance to the food apartment, to allow having the middle apart- . 
ment secluded. The entrance to the food apartment must be large 
enough to insure against the possibility of one or two bees getting 
wedged into it and so cutting off the food supply of the rest. 
The food used in these cages is a stiff candy dough prepared 
from pulverized sugar and well ripened light honey, kneaded to 
the right constituency. The waxed cell is filled with this candy and 
then sealed with a piece of combfoundation over the top, the cell 
previously having been rimmed out to receive this covering. The 
