338 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
among them they very deliberately proceeded 
about a mile to a large poplar tree into which they 
entered. We cut the tree down and secured the 
swarm which is now doing well. A large number 
of swarms are lost in this vicinity every year by 
going off without clustering. Is there no remedy 1 
Another query and I have done. A neighbor of 
mine has five stocks, varying in age from one to 
three years. They are all strong healthy stocks ; 
three of them have already cast swarms and the 
other two will swarm in a few days. In all, ex¬ 
cept one, vigorous piping was heard before the 
first swarm issued, and in one of the swarms 
which has been out four days, I last evening heard 
the queei. piping when I was twenty feet from the 
hive. The first swarms were not kept back by 
bad weather. Now this is altogether different 
from what I was led to expect from reading 
works on bee-culture. Will Mr. Quinby, or any 
of your correspondents explain 1 I am compar¬ 
atively a tyro in such matters and seek informa¬ 
tion. S. C. Mendenhall. 
Frazeysburg, Muskingum Co., O., July 1st, 1 d58. 
Wonders of the Bee Hive—XIV. 
The body of the honey-bee is wonderfully fitted 
for the work it is expected to perform, and the 
most minute examination with a powerful lens, 
reveals new wonders in connection with its struc¬ 
ture. We present in Fig. 21 a magnified view of 
the proboscis, with which all the honey is collected 
from the flowers that yield it. If our readers can 
find a bee on a flower, or still better, if they can 
coax one to help itself to a piece of candy or a 
drop of liquid honey, they will see a long flexible 
trunk, somewhat like an elephant’s, (though not 
so large,) let down from 
the mouth where it was 
concealed before, and 
rubbed over the sweet 
object like a camel’s hair 
pencil. This is the pro¬ 
boscis, whose parts are 
represented in fig. 21. 
To the eye, it seems to 
be a single instrument, 
and yet by a careful ex¬ 
amination of a dead bee 
it will be found capable 
of separation into several 
parts, five of which are 
easily distinguished and 
are grouped together like 
one’s fingers. These are 
all of a rich brown color, 
or horn-like, and of 
course will not be con¬ 
founded with the two 
black antenna, which stand out on each side of 
the head. 
In the figure, we are supposed to be looking at 
the head of the bee as it is turned over on its 
back, and the joints of the proboscis are rather 
Unnaturally extended for exhibition. The five 
parts spoken of are represented by a, a, e, e, m. 
Of these, a, a, indicate the first pair of joints, 
about as large as hairs, partly membraneous, and 
partly of a substance between horn and bone, 
covered to some extent with fine hairs. The 
veins running through them are air tubes. These 
joints fold down upon the proboscis, m, and by 
their motions draw the honey up through its chan¬ 
nel toward the head. 
In e, e, we have the next pair of joints, much 
like the first, which, however, have at their upper 
extremities, three articulations,/, g. These do 
not fold upon m, like a, a, but project a little out¬ 
wardly, and are supposed to open the way for the 
proboscis, as it is penetrating the nectary of the 
flowers. Swammerdam compares them to the 
fore-feet of a mole, pushing the earth aside both 
ways, as it burrows in the ground. 
The middle part, or the true proboscis, appears 
at m. It is surrounded by hairs, and at the very 
extremity, o, has a small opening also guarded by 
hairs. There is either a tube or a channel run¬ 
ning through this part of the trunk, which is al¬ 
ternately enlarged and contracted by some mus¬ 
cular apparatus while the honey is ascending. 
Between m and e is another pair of joints, h, h, 
shorter than the others, and not so easily recog¬ 
nized by the eye. At l, we have the gullet cut 
off, on either side of which are the articulations 
that connect the whole with the head, while q, q, 
represent very black, but shining joints that form 
a sheath protecting and concealing the proboscis 
when it is not in use. We do not consider the il¬ 
lustration a very satisfactory one, but with the 
explanation given we hope our readers will be 
better able to examine for themselves the living 
object. 
The proboscis of the honey-bee is not long 
enough to penetrate some flowers which are rich 
in sweets. It is unable, for example, to get any 
supplies from the red clover, whose blossoms, as 
every boy knows, are so sweet to the taste. The 
humble-bee has the advantage of it in this res¬ 
pect. It is said, however, that the honey-bee 
sometimes bites a hole in the flower of the com¬ 
mon Fuchsia, and of the Dielytra Spectabilis, in 
order to get at the tempting stores which there 
invite it. 
boscis, passes at once to the honey-bag, which is 
situated in the abdomen of the bee. On return¬ 
ing to the hive, the bee can throw it out again in¬ 
to the cells, or can feed any bees that ask for it, 
as it enters. The honey-bag, when distented with 
honey, is translucent; if the bee has been fed in I 
the house and then fires against a window where 
there is a strong light, the fullness and transDa 
rency of its body are quite noticeable 
Fig. 22. 
Fig. 22 represents the stomach and digestive 
organs of this insect. A is the honey-bag, as 
large as a pea, which is filled through a slender 
tube extending from the mouth. From this the 
food passes into the stomach B, and thence into 
the folds of the intestines C, and through the 
larger intestine O, to its termination in the lower 
segment of the body. 
There is room yet for much research and pa¬ 
tient study of the laws of life and reproduction in 
this remarkable insect, but it needs to be done by 
the careful anatomist and philosopher. The re¬ 
sults will be profitable to the apiarian. We have 
now given views of the ovaries, the sting, the 
proboscis, and the digestive organs, all of which 
contribute to our purpose of illustrating “The 
Wonders of the Bee-Hive.” 
- - ——> - 
A Blue-Bird in a Bottle. —The West Rox- 
bury Gazette, (Mass.) 
gives the following item: 
“ One of our neighbors 
happening to have a large 
bottle, bethought himself 
of placing it in the 
branches of a tree near 
his house, for the birds to 
build in if they would. 
After a short time the 
members of his family 
perceived a pair of blue 
birds continually, day af¬ 
ter day, flying about and 
coming up to the mouth 
of the bottle, as if en- ' 
deavoring to get in. Af¬ 
ter this had lasted about 
a week, the gentleman 
took a hammer up to the 
tree to knock off the neck 
of the bottle, so that the 
bird might enter, when upon doing so a blue-bird 
flew out. The poor prisoner had undoubtedly 
succeeded in making his way in, but from the slip¬ 
pery ascent to the mouth had been unable to es¬ 
cape, and had probably been supported by food 
brought there by his outside brethren.” 
The honey, after being drawn up by the pro- 
Fig. 21 -PROBOSCIS OF A WORKER-BEE, GREATLY MAGNIFIED. 
