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TOXICOLOGY AND PHYSIOLOGY OF INSECTS 
Tarsi of flies carry gustatory sense.--N. E. McIndoo, Takoma Park, 
Md., noting that D. E. Minnich, of the University of Minnesota, has shown 
that the tarsi of butterflies and blowflies are extremely sensitive to 
sugar solutions, in one instance being 256 times as sensitive as are the 
human taste organs, says: "I repeated some of Minnich's experiments (with 
flies) and found that in order to bring about the proboscis response by 
using water or sugar water, the tarsus must actually be touched. When 
either water or sugar water on a small pencil brush was brought as close 
as 3 mm to the tarsus, no response was produced, but if thirsty the fly 
responded at once when the tarsus was touched with either water or sugar 
water. If not thirsty, but hungry, the fly responded only to sugar wa— 
ter. When the two brushes, one wet with water and the other with sugar 
water, were tied together and held side by side 3 mm from the tarsus of 
a hungry, but not thirsty, fly, no response was produced; and none was . 
seen when the water brush touched the tarsus, leaving the sugar water at 
a distance of 3 mm; but when the sugar-water brush touched the tarsus a 
response was very evident. Therefore, in order to have a response the 
initial stimulus must be a mechanical one, which must then be followed 
by a chemical one in the form of odorous vapors from water or sugar 
water." 
BEE CULTURE 
Large colonies favorable to honey production.--C. A. Farrar and 
A. P. Sturtevant, Laramie, Wyo., reporting on the relation of produc— 
tion to population in colonies ranging in size from 15,000 to 45,000 
bees, submit data to show that the stronger colonies have decided ad— 
vantages over small colonies. They state that "one colony having 30,000 
bees produced 151.2 pounds, while two colonies having 15,000 each pro- 
duced 100 pounds together; or one colony with 45,000 bees produced 172.5 
pounds, while 3 colonies having 15,000 bees each produced 100 pounds to-— 
gether." 
Young bees constitute most of winter cluster.--In an experiment 
to determine the distribution of bees of various ages in the winter 
Cluster, Mr. Farrar and Myrtle M. Cluster first killed a colony of bees 
with hydrocyanic acid gas generated from one ounce of potassium cyanide, 
the charge being sufficiently heavy" to kill all the bees, even in the 
center of the cluster, before they could break or loosen, * * * a total 
of 23,978 bees being recorded, 4,016 of which were marked with 18 dif- 
ferent colors and ranged in age from 71 to 105 days. * * * Bessuas 
all ages were found in all parts of the cluster and there was apparently 
no distribution according to age. * * * There was a very marked tendency 
for 2 or more bees of the same age to be next to each other or separated 
only by 1 or 2 bees, * * * These results, supported by the daily death 
rate of marked bees in all colonies now under observation, suggest that 
practically all of the bees in the winter cluster are physiologically 

