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- 
cvei, manifestly, did not issue ior 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 19 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 
