230 AUSTRALASIAN 
ends to come flush with the top of the sides. The shoulders 
of the frames rest on the top of the ends, and are secured 
from moving by the fillets. The bottom is then nailed on and 
the box is ready for the bees. 
The greatest difficulty I have had in shipping bees has been 
to ensure a plentiful supply of water on the voyage. I have 
tried two methods, but neither has been as satisfactory as I 
could have desired. First I arranged a sponge so that the 
bees could get at it through a piece of wire cloth, and pasted 
instructions on the box to water it every day—but this was 
often neglected. Next I made flat zine bottles with a tapering 
neck ; these were filled and placed neck downwards on a piece 
of flannel in a smal! shallow zinc pan tacked to the bottom of 
the box, the bottle being secured with tacks to the side. This 
plan was also found frequently to fail. I think the heat of the 
boxes caused the water to evaporate too quickly ; at all events 
the water soon disappeared. I now believe the better way will 
be to adopt a combination of both plans; that is, to put in one 
or two bottles of water and to arrange a sponge on the outside 
in the manner already desciibed. The risk will at least be 
diminished by such precautions. ; 
Old tough combs are the best to use for shipping purposes, 
not being so liable to break as new ones. No uncapped brood 
should be put in. nor too many bees; neither should heavy 
combs of honey be used; it is better to have the food fairly 
distributed through all the combs. The top should be screwed 
on for greater convenience of taking it off afterwards without 
any hammering or unnecessary jarring of the box. Full in- 
structions for keeping the box in a cool dark place, etc, etc., 
should be pasted on top of each box, and if at all possible let 
the sender, or some very careful person acting for him, see to 
the shipping personally. 
PLXIOM, 
_“QUEENLESS COLONIES, UNLESS SUPPLIED WITH A QUEEN, WILL 
INEVITABLY DWINDLE AWAY, OR BE DESTROYED BY THE BEE-MOTH, OR 
BY ROBBER BEES.” Langstroth, 
