Beekeepers’ Dictionary 
Abdomen. — The posterior of the three parts into 
which a bee is divided, containing the larger 
part of the digestive organs. In the female it 
consists of six visible segments or rings, and 
seven in the male. See “Anatomy” in the body 
of this work. 
Absconding swarm. — A swarm which leaves for 
new quarters. See “Absconding Swarms” in 
the body of this work. 
Absorbents.—Materials more or less porous placed 
over the brood-chamber in winter, which permit 
moisture to escape without much loss of heat. 
Acarapis woodi. — The Latin name of the para¬ 
sitic mite causing the Isle of Wight disease. It 
was formerly called Tarsonemus woodi, but 
Hirst, an English specialist in mites, has pro¬ 
posed to place this mite in a new genus 
Aearapis (acarus, mite and apis, bee). 
Adair frame.—13% inches long, 11% inches deep. 
After-swarms.—Swarms which leave a given colony 
after a swarm of the same season has already 
left it. 
Albino.—A bee which is lighter colored than nor¬ 
mal or pure white. A sport or freak of nature. 
Alighting-board.—The projection before the en¬ 
trance to a hive. 
American foul brood.—See “Foul Brood.” 
American frame.—12 inches long, 12 inches deep. 
Antenna (plural antennae).—A pair of slender, 
jointed appendages inserted on the head, which 
bear sense organs. See “Anatomy” in the 
body of this work. 
Anther.—The upper 2-lobed portion of the sta¬ 
men consisting usually of two or four cells, in 
which the pollen is produced. A 4-celled anther 
at maturity may become 2-celled by the break¬ 
ing down of the partition between the pair of 
cells in each anther-lobe. 
Aphis.-—A plant louse which secretes honeydew. 
Apiarian.—Pertaining to bees or an apiary. A term 
not much used now. 
Apiarist.—A beekeeper. 
Apiary.—A collection of colonies of bees; also the 
yard or place where bees are kept. See “Apiary” 
in the body of this work. 
Apiculture.—Beekeeping. 
Apidae.—The family to which the honeybee be¬ 
longs. 
Apis.—The genus to which honeybees belong. 
Apis dorsata.—See “Giant Bees.” 
Artificial cell cup. — See “Cell Cup.” 
Artificial fecundation.—The impregnation of vir¬ 
gin queens in confinement. 
Artificial fertilization. — See “Artificial Fecunda¬ 
tion.” 
Artificial pasturage.—Plants purposely cultivated 
for their nectar. 
Artificial pollen.-—-Rye meal, pea flour, or other 
substances fed as substitutes for the pollen of 
flowers. 
Artificial swarm.—A swarm made by dividing a 
colony of bees bj; brushing or shaking. See 
“Brushed Swarms'.” 
Ash.—The residue remaining after incineration. 
The mineral constituents of honey ash are iron, 
calcium, sodium, magnesium, sulphur, potas¬ 
sium, phosphorus, manganese, etc. The total 
weight of honey ash is about 15-100 of 1 per 
cent of the weight of the honey. 
Automatic hiver.—See “Self-hiver.” 
Baby nucleus. — A miniature hive of bees consist¬ 
ing of not more than 200 or 300 individuals; for 
the mating of queens only. It is distinguished 
from a regular nucleus having regular Lang- 
stroth frames in that it has miniature frames. 
Bacillus larvae.—The bacterium or germ which 
causes American foul brood. 
Bacillus pluton. — The bacterium or germ which 
causes European foul brood. 
Balling a Queen.—Honeybees may cluster densely 
around a queen, especially a strange queen, 
forming a ball an inch or more in diameter. 
In some cases the queen is released unharmed, 
in others she is killed. 
Banat bees.—A race of bees, resembling the Car- 
niolan, from the Banat region, Hungary. 
Bar-frame.—A name sometimes applied to a mov¬ 
able frame in Great Britain. 
Beebread.—The pollen of flowers gathered by the 
bees, mixed with a little honey, and deposited in 
the comb. See “Pollen” in the body of this 
work. 
Bee-brush.-—-A brush used in removing bees off 
their combs. 
Bee culture.—The care of bees. 
Bee-dress.—A dress designed for the use of bee¬ 
keepers while working with bees. 
Bee-escape.—A device to get bees out of supers or 
buildings, so constructed as to allow bees to 
pass through in one direction, but prevent their 
return. See “Comb Honey” in the body of 
this work. 
Bee-gloves.—Gloves worn to protect the hands from 
stings and from propolis. 
Bee glue.—See “Propolis.” 
Bee-gum. — A term much used in the South for a 
hive of any kind. It usually means a box hive. 
See “Box Hive.” 
Beehive.—A box or other contrivance for holding 
a colony of bees. See Hive. 
Bee-house.—A house constructed to contain colo¬ 
nies of bees. See “House Apiary” under 
“Apiary,” in the body of this work. 
Bee line.—The shortest distance between two 
points. See “Bee-hunting” in the body of this 
work. 
Bee louse.—A parasite, probably a commensal, 
found chiefly on queens, young bees, and 
drones. It is comparatively harmless. The bee 
louse (Braula caeca) belongs to the order of flies 
(Diptera) and to the family Braulidae. Only a 
single species is known. 
Bee metamorphoses.—The bee passes through 
three stages before becoming a perfect insect— 
first the egg, then the larva, and next the nymph. 
The following will serve to show how this is 
accomplished: Queen, Worker, Drone, 
days. days. days. 
Incubation of the egg. 
3 
3 
3 
Time of feeding the larva.. 
5 
5 
6 
Larva spinning cocoons. 
1 
2 
3 
Resting period . 
2 
3 
4 
Passing from larva to nymph .. 
1 
1 
1 
Time in the nymph state. . . . 
3 
7 
7 
Total period of growth . . . 
15 
21 
24 
Hatching takes place on... . 
4 
4 
4 
Bee leaves its cell. 
16 
21 
24 
Bee flies . 
21 
38 
38 
See “Development of Bees 
work. 
’ ’ in the body 
of this 
Bee moth.—A moth whose larvae destroy 
combs, eating the wax; a wax moth. 
honey- 
Bee paralysis.—A disease of 
adult 
bees in 
which 
the wings have a trembling motion, and the bees 
have a shiny appearance; of little account in the 
