ARTIFICIAL SWARMING. 
195 
daily till the 29th, they came forth about noon, disporting 
in front of the hive, in the rays of the sun. They, how- 
ever, manifestly, did not issue for the purpose of gathering 
honey or pollen, for during that time none were noticed 
returning with pellets ; none were seen alighting on any 
of the flowers in my garden ; and I found no honey in 
the stomachs of such as I caught and killed for examina- 
tion. The gathering was done exclusively by the old bees 
of the original stock, until the 29th of May, when the 
Italian bees began to labor in that vocation also — being 
then 1 9 days old. 
“ 2. On the feeding troughs placed in my garden, and 
which were constantly crowded with common bees, I saw 
no Italian bees till the 27th of May, seventeen days after 
the first had emerged from the cells. 
“ From the 10th of May on, I daily presented to Italian 
bees, in the hive, a stick dipped in honey. The younger 
ones never attempted to lick any of it ; the older occasion- 
ally seemed to sip a little, but immediately left it and 
moved away. The common bees always eagerly licked it 
up, never leaving it till they had filled their honey-bags, 
Not till the 25th of May did I see any Italian bee lick up 
honey eagerly, as the common bees did from the begin- 
ning. 
“These repeated observations force me to conclude that, 
during the first two weeks of the worker-bee’s life, the 
impulse for gathering honey and pollen docs not exist, or 
at least is not developed ; and that the development of this 
impulse proceeds slowly and gradually. At first the 
young bee will not even touch the honey presented to 
her ; some days later she will simply taste it, and only 
after a further lapse of time will she consume it eagerly. 
Two weeks elapse before she readily eats honey, and 
nearly three weeks pass, before the gathering impulse is 
