940 
BEEKEEPERS’ DICTIONARY 
Tarsonemus woodi.- —A destructive parasite (Isle 
of Wight disease) that finds its way into the 
breathing pores or spiracles of honeybees. At 
present confined to Europe. 
Tarsus.— -The five terminal segments of a bee’s leg 
are called the tarsi; one of these segments is a 
tarsus. 
Tested queen. —A queen whose progeny show she 
has mated with a drone of her own race. 
Thin-super foundation. —Comb foundation running 
about 12 square feet to the pound. 
Thorax. —The middle part of a bee between the 
head and abdomen, to which the wings and 
legs are attached. 
Tibia.— The fourth joint of an insect’s leg, be¬ 
tween the femur and tarsi. 
Tiering up. —Adding supers on the top of a hive 
to receive the incoming honey. 
Transferring.- —Ordinarily applied to the process 
of changing bees and combs from common boxes 
to movable-frame hives. 
Transformations. —-See 1 ‘Bee Metamorphoses’ ’ ; also 
“Development of Bees’’ in the body of this 
work. 
Transposition process. —Taking a young larva from 
a worker-cell and placing it in a queen-cell cup. 
Travel-stain. —The darkened appearance upon the 
surface of comb honey when left long upon the 
hive. 
Trigona. —A genus of stingless bees in South 
America and Asia. Some species bite furiously. 
Tunisian bee. —A black race, natives of northern 
Africa; very cross, and much given to swarming; 
sometimes called Punic. The bees are bad pro- 
polizers, nervous and, from a commercial point 
of view, undesirable. 
Uncapping-knife.— See “Honey-knife.’ ’ 
Unripe honey. —Honey which has not been left in 
the care of bees long enough to be thickened 
until it contains less than 25 per cent of water. 
Unsealed brood. —-Brood not yet sealed over by 
the bees. In a general way eggs are often in¬ 
cluded with larvae under the term “unsealed 
brood.’’ See “Brood’’ and also “Bee Meta¬ 
morphoses.’’ 
Vinegar, —A sour liquid made by the alcoholic 
and subsequent acetous fermentation of any 
product containing a sugar in practical quanti¬ 
ties. Obviously, vinegar can be made from 
honey, by properly diluting it. 
Virgin comb.— Comb which has been used for 
honey only once, and never for brood. 
Virgin queen. —An unfecundated queen. 
Vitamine. —An accessory food substance very nec¬ 
essary to health and growth in all animal life. 
Vitamines are divided into three groups, Fat- 
soluble A, Water-soluble B and Water-soluble 
C. The first occurs in comb honey, but no 
vitamines of any class have been found so far 
in any amount in extracted honey. 
Wax-extractor.—An appliance for rendering wax 
by heat, or by heat and pressure. 
Wax moth.—See “Bee Moth.’’ 
Wax-pocket.—The receptacles on the under side of 
the abdomen wherein the bees secrete their wax. 
Wax-press.—A press in which the wax is squeezed 
out of the heated combs. 
Wax-tube fastener.—A tube for applying a fine 
stream of melted wax along the edge of a sheet 
of foundation to cement it to the top-bar of a 
brood frame or the top of a section. 
Wean.—To cease giving the highly concentrated 
food that is first fed to larvae, and to give coar¬ 
ser food. A worker larva is weaned when three 
days old. 
Wedding excursion or wedding flight.—The flight 
of the queen when five days old or older, to 
mate with the drone in the air. 
Wild bees.—Bees living in hollow trees or other 
abodes not prepared for them by man. Strict¬ 
ly speaking, they are no wilder than bees in 
hives. 
Windbreaks.—Either specially constructed fences 
or barriers composed of growing trees to reduce 
the force of the wind. 
Wintering.—The care of bees during winter. 
Wired frames.-—These are brood frames having 
wires stretched across them, either vertically 
or horizontally, for the purpose of holding the 
comb foundation and later the comb solidly in 
position. See “Comb Foundation’’ in the body 
of this work. 
Wiring frames.-—The act of stringing wires 
through holes in brood frames to hold founda¬ 
tion in place. 
Wood-base foundation.—A thin veneer of wood 
covered on each side with shallow cell walls of 
beeswax having the same general appearance 
of the surface of comb foundation. 
Worker.—A female bee whose organs of reproduc¬ 
tion are undeveloped; well named “worker,’’ 
because workers do all the work of the colony 
except layiilg the eggs. 
Worker comb.—Comb having cells which measure 
five to the inch, in which workers may be 
reared, and honey or pollen stored. See “Hon¬ 
eycomb.’ ’ 
Worker egg.—A fertilized egg laid by a queen bee, 
which may produce either a worker or a queen. 
Xylocopa.—Often called carpenter bees because 
they excavate with their powerful jaws a chan¬ 
nel a foot in length in solid wood. They much 
resemble bumblebees. 
