2 Natural History of the Honeybee. 



of this there are the vague, defective assertions which are found in the newest editions of 

 scientific works. Thus in a well-known text-book of zoology we read that a calony of 

 bees contains about 10,000 workers. Such a small colony as that, 1 kilo of bees (5009 

 generally counted to a half -kilo) is not capable of developing under ordinary circumstances, 

 nor of Irving over the winter. If a colony of medium strength is considered normal, then 

 a normal colony contains at least 20,000 to 30,000 bees. The following statement also is 

 wrong: "If a young queen emerges from her cell, then the former queen leaves the 

 hive with part of the colony (first swarm) to found a new colony." Normally the swarm 

 has issued^ by the time the cells containing young queens are sealed. Since' it tfikes 16 

 or 17 days for the complete development of a queen, and the cell iar closed on the ninth 

 day, the hive is without an emerged queen for seven or eight days after the issue 

 of the first swarm. The after-swarm, therefore, normally issues seldom before the ninth 

 day after the issue of the first swarm. In Beehhold's Lexikon der Naturwissenschaften, 

 1894, there are similar incorrect statements. Among other things, a vigorous colony is 

 said to contain, at most, 30,000 workers. But since strong icolonies can sustain swarms of 

 three or four kilos (27,000 to 36,000 bees), it follows that the whole number of inmates 

 may amount to 60,000 or 75,000 and more, for usually a little more than half remain in the 

 hive. Only 9000 swarming bees are counted to the kilo, because the honey-sacs of all are 

 filled. Claus, 8 in a paper which contains many other errors, doubts that bees are able 

 to hear. No zoologist who has done any experimental bee-keeping can have the least 

 doubt that bees have an excellent sense of hearing, since observations yield him hundreds 

 of proofs. The man who is not familiar with biological facts might recognize nothing of 

 the kind with certainty, for up to the present the organ of hearing has not been discovered. 



It appears, however, that 1 , the work of Otto Schenk indicates an advance in this direc- 

 tion (Schenk: Die antennalen Hautsinnes-organe einiger Lepidopteren und Hymenopteren, 

 Zool. Jahrb., 1902). In this work on antennae the presence of organs is demonstrated, 

 which, with more probability than has been possible heretofore, may signify organs of 

 hearing. Again, the work of Vitus Graber, * ' Die Insekten, ' ' Miinchen, 1879, in picturing 

 the social life of insects, shows a series of errors and incorrect assertions so far as bees 

 are concerned (Part II., 2d half, pp. 232-248). A refutation would take up too much 

 space, and would lead me too far; but I might mention, for example, that Graber declares 

 that the queen normally flies about inside the hive, because she "can not always pass per 

 pedes through the vertical paths inside" (1. c, p. 88). Further, Wundt (Vorlesungen uber 

 die Menschen- und Tierseele, Leipsig, 1892), buildjs numerous far-reaching theories upon 

 an incorrect biological basis. I shall speak of this in my l i Conclusion ' ' to this paper. The 

 foregoing list of errors is not very complete, but let the matter end here. 



While the founders 9 of our present knowledge in this sphere depended largely upon 

 the results gained in practice, we see now and then an almost complete ignorance of the 

 rich material which distinguished bee-keepers have laid down in the literature of practical 

 bee-keeping. 10 



As to terminology, I shall not use Bethe's phrase, "psychic qualities" (Psychische 

 Qualitaten), since it can be interpreted in various ways. Bethe gives it a definite significance. 



8 Claus, Der Bienenstaat. Part 179 of the collection of scientific papers published by Virchow und 

 Holtzendorf. Hamburg, 1873. 



9 Francois Huber, Nouvelles Observations sur les Abeilles. Geneva, 1814; German by G. Kleine, 

 Einbeck, 1856; English editions in 1823 and 1841. This investigator, blind since his twentieth year, could 

 not have carried on his observations without the help of his unusually efficient bee-keeper Burnens. 



v. Siebold Wahre Parthenogenesis bei Schmetterlingen und Bienen, Leipzig, 1856, etc. 



Leuckart, Zur Kenntnis des Generationswechsels und der Parthenogenesis bei Insekten. 1858, etc 

 Surely the histological findings of these last-named investigators with regard to the presence of spermato- 

 zoa in bee eggs can no longer be esteemed as free from objections. They doubtless depend upon. an{ 

 illusion, for, as I have shown before (Der Befruchtiungsvorgange im Bieneaiei, Bienen w. CentraJblatt 

 Nr. 16, v. 15 August, 1899; further in Aus den Wundern des Bienenstaates, ibid, 1900), according to 

 my investigations, the spermatozoa undergo the transformation into sperm nuclei in about 15 to 20 

 minutes (cf. Weismann, Vortrage uber Deszendenz Theorie, II. Aufi., 1904, p. 250, I. Bd.) ; while v. 

 Siebold says he has seen living spermatozoa in eggs after 12, 15, and 22 hours. I believe, therefore, 

 that in Blochmann's paper (Ueter die Zahl der Richtungskorper bei befruchteten, und unbefruchteten 

 Bieneneiern, Morphol, Jahrb., 15 Bd., p. 85-96, 1889), and in Paulcke's investigations (Zur Frage der 

 parthenog. Entstehung der Drohnen (Apis mellif.), XVI Bd., pp. 474-476, Anat. Anzeiger v. 5 October, 

 Jena, 1899, Vorlaufige Mitteilung),, we have the first safe histological corroborations of the theory of 

 parthenogenesis in the honey-bee. In the meantime Petrunkewitsch has gwren full confirmation (cf. 

 Petrunkewitsch, Alex., Natural and Artificial Parthenogenesis, Amer. Naturalist, Vol. 39, 1905). 



10 v. Siebold (1. c, p. 57) expressly refers to the findings of bee-keepers as "the most important work." 



