200 The Relation of Apiculture to Science. [ March, 
In going to any place, bees seem to be guided by direction 
rather than sight. Thus if we move a hive, but for one or two 
feet, the bees will, for days, descend to the old position, and then 
turn abruptly to the hive. I have been led to notice a strange 
exception to this; by placing honey on a porch of one of two 
houses that are exactly alike, but about five rods apart, many 
bees were misled and swarmed about the porch on which there 
was no honey. The experiment was several times repeated. 
Experience shows that bees will winter quite as well with pure 
honey or sugar syrup for food, as though they had pollen with it. 
They may be kept healthy at least for a time, in confinement, in 
summer, on a pure hydro-carbonaceous diet, and will secrete wax 
and make comb, with the usual activity. But pollen is a seve gua 
non to brood rearing. Probably it is also necessary for the old 
bees, at times of great activity. Bees also need water. Unless 
very active, this want seems to be met by the water of the honey ; 
but in shipping bees they are now generally fed with candy or crys- 
talized sugar, and unless water is added, they perish ina few days. 
Nectar, as gathered from the flowers, contains much more water 
than does the honey. The bees leave the nectar, which is often 
nearly as thin as water, some time before capping, until the neces- 
sary evaporation has transpired. Bee-keepers call this the curing 
process. Some nectar is so thick that it is capped very soon, 
though frequently it remains for days, and rarely is it of such a 
nature that it does not thicken, and the bees refuse to cap it at all. 
Such nectar, usually from bark lice, etc., is unwholesome, and 
unfit food, even for the bees. If thin nectar is extracted, bee- 
keepers evaporate the moisture from it by artificial heat, as it does 
not preserve its quality unless rid of the superfluous water. 
One of the most terrible disasters that can befall the apiarist is 
to become the victim of foul-brood. In this terrible disease a 
fungus attacks the brood, which causes it to become putrid and 
disgusting. It is very contagious. The disease is common in 
Europe, and has brought ruin and discouragement to apiarists in 
several of our own States. Spraying with salicylic acid has been 
found an efficient cure. 
The enemies of bees is certainly a matter of interest to all 
scientists, and especially to zodlogists. Among mammals, shrews 
and mice are often quite destructive to bees. The king bird, 
Tyrannus carolinensis, captures worker bees, although it is 
