Langstroth on the hive honey bee

This is recorded in his journal, under the date of October 30, 1851, with thefollowing remarks: "The use of these frames will, I am per-suaded, give anew impetusto the easyand profitable

The original of tiiis book is in

tine Cornell University Library.

the United States on the use of the text.

http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924003227646

sr 3<3.L286 1919

'iininiifi

C 3 1S24 003 227 646

Hamilton, Hancock County.'Illinois, U S A

19i9

COPYRIGHTED 1888 BY CHAS DADANT & SON

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

COPYRIGHTED 1919 BY

C p DADANT

L L LANGSTROTH at 80.

BIOGRAPHY OF L L LANGSTROTH

Lorenzo Lorrain Langstroth, the "father of American

Apicultvu'e," was born in tlie city of Philadelphia, December

25, 1810 Heearly showedunusualinterestin insect life. His

parents were intelligent and in comfortable circumstances,but they were not pleased to see him "waste so much time" indigging holes in the gravel walks, filling them with crumbs of

bread and dead flies, to watch the curious habits of the ants

No books of any kind on natural history were put into hisbauds, but, on the contrary, much was said to discourage his

"strange notions.'' Still he persisted in his observations, and gave to them much of the time that his playmates spent in

sport

In 1S27, he entered Yale College, graduating in 1831 His

father's means having failed, he supported himself by ing, while pursuing his theological studies After serving asmathematical tutor in Yale College for nearly two years, he

teach-was ordained Pastor of a Congregational church in Andover,Massachusetts, in May, 1836, and was married in August of

that yearto Miss A M Tucker of New Haven.

Strange to say, notwithstanding his passion in early life

for studying the habits of insects, he took no interest in suchpursuits during his college life. In 1837, the sight of a glassvessel filled with beautiful comb honey, on the table of afriend, led him to visit the attic where the bees were kept.This revived all his enthusiasm, and before he went home he

purchased twocoloniesofbees inoldboxhives Theonly

lit-eraryknowledge which he then hadof bee-culturewas gleaned

from the Latin writings of Virgil, and from a modem writer,

"who was somewhat skeptical as to the existence of a bee."

queen-In 1839, Mr Langstroth removed to Greenfield,

pastorate Increasing very gradually the number of his

Huber" and theworkof Dr Bevanon thehoneybee (London,1838),fellinto hishands andgavehim anintroductiontothe

In 1848, having removed to Philadelphia, Mr Langstroth,with the help of his wife, began to experiment with hives ofdifferent forms, but made no special improvements in them

the present day in preference to all others This is recorded

in his journal, under the date of October 30, 1851, with thefollowing remarks: "The use of these frames will, I am per-suaded, give anew impetusto the easyand profitable manage- ment of bees."

This invention, which gave him perfect control over all

the combs of the hive, enabled him afterwards to make many

remarks and incidental discoveries, the most of which he

re-corded in his book, on the habits and the natural history ofthe honey-bee The first edition ofthe work was published in

1852, andin its preparation hewas greatly assisted by his

ac-complished wife A revised edition was published in 1857,another in 1859, and large editions, without further revisions,

were published until 1889, when the Dadants undertook the

first re-writingofthe book

Plate

his invention This was granted him; but he was deprived

and subsequent law-suits, which impoverished him and gavehim trouble for years; though no doubt remains now in themind of any one, as to the originality and priority of his

discoveries

From the very beginning,hishive wasadopted bysuch men

as Quinby, Grimm and others, while the inventions of Munu

and Debeauvoys are now buried in oblivion

Removing to Oxford, Ohio, in 1858, Mr. Langstroth, withthehelp ofhis son, engaged in the propagation ofthe Italian

bee Fromhislargeapiary he sold inone season $2,0l)0worth

of Italian queens This amount looks small at the presentstage of bee-keeping, but it was enormous at a time when so

fewpeoplewereinterested init.

The death of his only son, andrepeated attacks of a serious

head trouble, together with physical infirmities caused by arailroad accident, compelled Mr. Langstroth to abandon ex-tensive bee-culture in 1874 But when his health permitted,his ideas were always turned toward improvements in bee-culture On the 19th of August, 1895, he wrote us, asking

us to try the feeding of bees with malted milk, to induce therearing of brood He had also written to others on the same

subject On the Iflth of Septemberhe wrote in the American Bee Journal,that, aftercomparative experiments he had found

that a thirteen combLangstrothhive gavemore honeythantheordinary ten framehive,thus showingthathis mind wasat all

times occupied with bees

Mr. Langstroth died October 6th, 1895, at Dayton, Ohio,while delivering a sermon He was nearly eighty-five years

name now by American

who are aware of the great debt due him by the fraternity.

Heistothem whatDzierzon* isto GermanApiarists,a master

whose teachingswill be retained for ages

Mr. Langstroth was an eminent scholar His bee library

was one of the most extensive in the world He learned

Trench without a teacher, simply through his knowledge ofLatin, for the sole purpose of reading the many valuable

works onbeesintheFrenchlanguage He was apleasant and

eloquent speaker Hiswritings are praisedby all, and we can

*Pronounce Tseertsone

Plate

BIOGRAPHY OF CHARLES DADANT

Mr. Charles Dadant was bom May 22,1817, at Aubigny, in the golden hills ofBurgundy, France Afterhis

Vaux-Sous-education in the Collegeof Langres, hewent into the

mercan-tile business in that city, but ill-successinducedhimtoremove

to America He settled in Hamilton, Illinois, in 1863, and foundaprofitableoccupationinbee-culture,which in hishands

yielded marvelous results He soon became noted as one ofthe leading apiarists ofthe world

After a few years of trial he madea trip to Italy, in 1872,

toimportthe bees ofthatcountrytoAmerica Thoughatfirst

unsuccessful, he persisted in his efforts and finally achievedgreat success He was the firstto lay down rules for the safetransportation of queen bees across the sea, which is now amatter of daily occurrence

Later on, in partnership withhis son, C P Dadant, he dertook the'manufacture of comb foundation which has beencontinued by the firm, together with the management of sev-

un-eral large apiaries, run almost exclusively for the production

of extracted honey

Although well :versed in the English language, which hemastered at the age of forty-six, with the help of a pocketdictionary, Mr Dadant was never ableto speakit fluently and

many ofthe readers ofhis numerous writingswere astonishedwhenmeetinghimtofindthathe could converse with difiiculty

His writings were not confined to American publications, for

in 1870 he beganwriting for European bee-journals and

con-tinued to do so until his methods were adopted, especially inSwitzerland, France, Italy and Russia, where the hive which

he recommended is now known under his name Tor twentyyears hewasa regular contributorto theRevue InternationaleD'Apiculture, and, as a result, there is probably not anotherbee-writerwhose name isso thoroughly known theworld over

Mr Dadant was made an honorary member of more thantwenty bee-keepers' associations throughout the world and his

death, which occurred July 16, 1902, was lamented by everybee publication on both continents

Mr Dadant was a congenial man and a philosopher He

retained his cheerfulness of spirit to his lastday

In addition to his supervision of the revision of this book,

lie was the author of a small treatise on bees, "Petit (flours

d'Apiculture Pratique.'' He also published,in connection withhis son, apamphlet on "ExtractedHoney," 1881,now outofprint

The first editions of the work of Langstroth were honored

with the title of "The Classic in Bee-Culture." The first

re-written revision was published in 1889, and this was so wellreceived in the bee-keeping world that Mr. Charles Dadanttranslated it into the French language With the help of

EdouardBertrandiit waspublished atGeneva Alittlelater

a Russian edition was published— by Kandratieff, of St tersburg— whichhas caused arevolution in bee-culture in Rus-sia. ASpanisheditionispublishedinBarcelonaby Pons Fab-

Pe-regues

Mr. Charles Dadant died in 1902 Meantime progress hascontinued and we again have to bring this classic work for-

ward byadditionsanda fewVorrections

In this edition we have aimed to preserve the first

experi-ments and quotations made, whenever theyhave proven

ascertained afact innatural historyor hasmade a discovery

We have discarded all the cuts from Girard, because it was

evident that most of his anatomicalstudies werecopied from Barbd and Clerici, without giving them credit, and we have

has not yet been excelled It was published in Milan, under

the title of "Atlante Di Apicoltura," by A De Rauschenfels,formereditor of L'Apicoltore

Experienced bee-keepers will notice thatwe do not describe

many new implements It is because we believe in teachingbeginners to use only that which has been thoroughly tested

andisunquestionably good Many newthingswillnot standthetestoflong yearsof practice It issufficient,among otherthings,toquote the metalcorners forframesandthereversible

cardedeven bytheirinventor Reversiblehiveswerethecraze,

and were praised in every way We gave two of them a mentionin our pages, witha warning against their use Re-

versiblehives arenowalmost entirelyabandoned.

We recommend the large hives, yet we know they are notpopular, because buyers want inexpensive hives We have

bowed before public wishes and give descriptions of severalpopular hives which are certainly successful But we uselargehives ourselves, forweconsiderthemthebest

In our preface ofthe first revision we extended our thanks

to Mr. C F Muth, now deceased, and toMiss Favard, for

revision alone, but owes gratitude for sound advice on many

points toa man whohas to do withbothpractice and theory

and whoselongexperienceentitleshim to the consideration of

allbee-keepers, DoctorC C.Miller,authorof "A Year Among

the Bees" and "Fifty Years Among the Bees." Dr Miller,with smallhives,enlarged at thepropertimeandagain reduced

in the brood chamber for the honey crop, has shown whatcould be donewithintelligentandenergetic management He

is not only a successful writer but a most extensive producer

of comb honey, andis justly entitled to the name given him

ofthe "NestorofAmericanBee-Keeping."

The workofFather Langstroth, sustainedin Europe by the

methods of bee-culture The improved hive, based upon theLangstroth system, has been adopted all over the world, and

testimonialscometousfromthemost remotecountriesshowing

that themethodstaughthave provensuccessful

Theprincipal changes inthis edition are upon the question

of "Diseases," as much progress has lately been made in the

knowledge concerning foul-brood

C P DADANT.

Hamilton, Illinois,January, 1919

THE HIVE AND HONEY BEE

PHYSIOLOGY OP THE HONEY-BEE

1 All the leading facts in the natural history, and thebreeding of bees, ought to be as familiar to the Apiarist, as

ani-mals A few crude and half-digested notions, however

sat-isfactory to the old-fashioned bee-keeper, will no longer meetthe wants of those who desire to conduct bee-culture on an

extended and profitable system Hence wehave found it visable to give a short description of the principal organs of

ad-this interesting insect and abridged passages taken from

various scientificwriters whose works have thrown an entirely

the reader will bear with us in this arduous task he will find

that we have tried to make the descriptions plain and simple,avoiding, as much as possible, scientific words unintelligible

2 Honey-bees are insects belonging to the order

Hy-menoptera; thus named from their four membranous, gauzy

wings Theycan flourish only when associated in large

as anew-bom child, beingnumbed bythe chill of a cool

sum-mernight

3 The habitation provided for bees is called ahive The

inside of a bee-hive shows a number of combs about inch apart and suspended from its upper side These combs

half-an-are formed of hexagonal ce)ls of various sizes, in which the

4 In a family, or colony of bees, are found (Plate 5)—

1st, One bee ofpeculiar shape,commonly called the Queen,

or mother-bee She is the only perfect female in the hive,

and alltheeggs arelaidbyher;

2nd, Manythousands ofworker-hees, orincomplete females,

whose office is, while young, to take care of the brood and

do the inside workof the hive; and when older, to go to the

3d, At certain seasonsof the year, some hundreds and eventhousands oflargebees,calledDrones,or male-bees,whosesole

function isto fertilizetheyoung queens,or virgin females.Before describing the differences that characterize each ofthese three kinds,we willstudy the organs which, to a greater

prominently found in the maintype, theworker-bee

General Characteristics

that supports the body is not internal, as in mammals, butmostly external Itisformed of a homy substance,scientific-ally called chitine, andwell described in the following quota-

6 "Chitine is capable of being moulded into almost everyconceivable shape and appearance It forms the hard back ofthe repulsive cockroach, the beautiful scale-like feathers of the

gaudybutterfly, the delicate membrane which supports the

lace-wingin midair,thetransparent cornea covering the eyes ofall

and the black and yellowringsof our native and importedbees,

besides internal braces, tendons, membranes, and ducts merable The external skeleton, hard for the most part, and

innu-varied in thickness in beautiful adaptation to the strain to

which itmaybe exposed, gives persistency of formto the little

QUEEN, DRONE AND WORKER.

GENERAL CHAEACTEBISTICS 3

This we may understand by examining the legs of a lobster

bat so largethat nomagnifying glass isrequired Here we see

thatthe thick coatis reducedto a thin andeasily creasedbrane, where, by flexion, one part is made to pass over theother."

mem-"Again, almost every part of the body is covered by hairs,

the form, structure, direction, and position of which, to the

Bee-keeping," p 30 London, 1887.)

y Mr. Cheshire explains that, as the skeleton or

touch, each one containing anerve They also act as clothing

and aid in retainingheat

—

"and give protection, as the stiff, straight hairs of the eyes,

whilst some act as brushes for cleaning, others are thin and webbed for holding pollen grains; whilst by varied modifica-

mechan-ical stops to limit excessive movement."

8 Thethree sectionsofthebodyofthehoney-bee are fectly distinct: the head; the thorax, or centre of locomotion,

the honey-sack, stomach, bowels, and the main breathing

or-gans

The principal exterior organs of the head are the antennae,

9 The eyes are five in number, two composite eyes, one

on each side ofthehead, which arebut clusters of small eyes

tri-angle at the top of.the head

10 The facets of the composite eyes, thousands in

directed towards nearly every point, they permit the insect to

11 In comparing the eyes of worker, queen and drone,

PHYSIOLOGY OF THE HONEY-BEE.

"The worker spends much of her time in the open air. curate and powerful vision are essentials to theproper prosecu-tion ofher labors, and here I found the compound eye possess-

Ac-ingabout6,300 facets Inthemother ofthisworkerI expected

to finda lessnumber,forqueensknowlittle of daylight After

wedding they are out of doors but once, or at most twice, in

a year.* This example verified my forecast, by showing 4,920facets on each side of the head A son of this mother, much astay-at-home also, was next taken His facets were irregular

i

Pig 1.

THE COMPOSITE EYE OF A WORKER-BEE MAGNIFIED

Gaetano Barbd, of Milan.)

in size, those at the lowerpart ofthe eye l5cing much lessthanthose near the top; but they reached the immense number of13,090 on each side of the head Why should the visual ap-paratus of the drone be so extraordinarily developed beyond

that of the worker, whose need ofthe ej'e seems at first to be

much more pressing than his?"

This question Mr. Cheshire answers, as will be seen

13 The three small eyes, ocelli, are thought by Maurice

Girard ("Les Abeilles," Paris, 1878), and others, to have amicroscopic function, for sight at short distances In the

theseeyes are fittedforthispurpose

Fig 2.

SMALL EYES, OK OCELLI OP THE DRONE

13 Their return from- long distances, either to their hive

or to the place where theyhave found food, proves thatbeescan see very far Yet, when the entrance to their hive hasbeen changed, even only a few'inches, they cannotreadily find

it.

Theirmany eyes looking indifferent directions, enablethem

to guide themselves by the relative position of objects, hencethey always return to the identical spot they left.

14 If we place a colony in a forest where the rays ofthe sun can scarcely penetrate, the bees, at their exit from

selecting a small aperture through the dense foliage, they

will rise above the forest, in quest of the flowers scattered

in the flelds. And like children in a nutting party, they will

gatherthe^i crop hereandthere, amile ormore away, withoutfear of being lost orunableto return

cloud passes before the sun,they start forhome, without any

mingles the leafy twigs, they find their way; so perfect istheorganization oftheircomposite eyes

15 Bees can notice and remember colors While

experi-menting on this faculty, we placed some honey on smallpieces of differently colored paper A bee alighted on a

While she was absent, we moved the paper Returning, she

came directly to the spot, but, noticing that the yellow paper

and then alighted upon it. According to Mr A J Cook asimilar experiment with the same results, was made by Lub-

bock ("Bee-keepers' Guide," Lansing, 1884.)

16 We usually give our bees flour, in shallow boxes, at

morn-ing they are put out again, after the bees have commencedflying andhover around the spot 'Ifby chance, somebitsofwhitepaper are scattered about the place, the bees visit thosepapers, mistaking themfor flour, on account of the color

17 But "the celebrated Darwin was mistaken in saying

are scarcely visited by insects, while the most highly coloredblossoms are very fondly visited by bees." (Gaston Bonnier,

18 For, althoughcolor attractsbees, it isonly one of the

means used by nature to bring them in contact with the

and this attraction is so powerful, that frequently, at break in the summer, the bees will be found in full flight,

day-gathering thehoney whichhasbeensecretedinthe night,whennothing, on the preceding evening, could have predicted such

acrop Thishappensespeciallywhenthereisa productionofhoney-dew,afterastorm We have evenknown beefe'togather

Fig 3.

LONGITUDINAL SECTION OP DKONR ANTLNNA NERVE RTRUCTURES

RE-MOVEH

fossa,or hollow; tr, trachea; m_, softmembrane; wh,webbedhairs; Im,

The firstofthese joints, the scape, next to thehead, is longer

an-"These hairs, standing above the general surface, constitutethe antennas marvelous touch organs; and as they are distrib-

uted all round each joint, the worker-bee in a blossom cup, or

with its head thrust into a cell in the darkness of the hive, is,

saw; while the queen, whose antenna is made after the same

model, can perfectly distinguish the condition of everypart of

the cell into which her head may be thrust The last joint,

which is flattened on one side, near the end, is more thicklystudded, andhere the hairs are uniformlybenttowards the axis

of the whole organ No one could have watched bees withoutdiscovering that, by the antennse, intercommunication is ac-

complished; but for thispurpose front and side hairs alone arerequired; and the drone, unlike the queen and worker, verysuggestively, has no others, sincethe conditionof thecells isno

(Cheshire.)

20 The celebrated Francois Huber, of Geneva, made a

number of experiments on the antennae, and ascertained thatthey are organs of smell'and feeling

Before citing his discoveries, we must pay our tribute ofadmiration to this wonderful man. (Plate 6.)

Huber, in early manhood, lost the use of his eyes His

opponents imagined that to state this fact would materiallydiscredit his observations And to make their case still

stronger, they asserted that his servant, Trancis Burnens, by whose aid he conducted hisexperiments, wasonly an ignorantpeasant Nowthis so-called"ignorant peasant" wasa man ofstrong nativeintellect, possessing the indefatigableenergyand

enthusiasm indispensable to a good observer He was a noblespecimen of a self-made man, and rose tobe the chief magis-

worthytributeto his intelligence, fidelity,patience, energyandskill. A single fact will show the character of the man. It

became necessary, in a certain experiment, to examine rately all the bees in two hives "Burnens spent eleven days

sepa-inperformingthiswork,andduringthewholetime hescarcely

allowed himself any relaxation,but whattherelief ofhiseyesrequired."

Huber's work onbeesis such an admirable specimen oftheinductive system of reasoning, that it might well be studied

as a model of the only way ofinvestigating nature, so as toarrive atreliable results

21 Huber wasassistedin his researches,not onlyby

Bur-nens, but by his own wife, to whom he was betrothed before,

him, notwithstanding his misfortune and the strenuous

dis-suasions of her friends They lived longer than the ordinary

term of human life in the enjoyment of great domestic piness, and the amiable naturalist, through her assiduous at-

hap-tentions, scarcely feltthe loss ofhissight

32. Milton isbelieved by many tohave been abetter poet

in consequence ofhis blindness; andit is highly probablethatHuber wasa better Apiaristfromthesamecause Hisactive,

found, in the study of the habits of the honey-bee, full scopefor his powers All the observations and experiments ofhisfaithful assistants being daily reported, many inquiries and

suggestions were made by him, which might nothave occurred

to him, had he possessed the use ofhis eyes

Few, Ukehim, have such command of both time and money,

as to be able to prosecute on so grand a scale, for a series

of years, the most costly experiments Having repeatedly

Apiarists

23 Huber,having imprisoned a queenin a wire cage, saw

the bees pass their antennae through the meshes of the cage,

and turn them in every direction The queen answered thesetokensoflovebyclinging to thecage andcrossingherantennae

and several extended their tongues to feed her through the

the fact isverified now by daily occuiTences in queen-rearing.Huber adds:

"How can we doubt now that the communication between

the workers and the queenwas maintainedby the touch of theantennce?"

24 That bees can hear, either by their antennas or some

other organ, few will now deny, even although the sound of

agun near thehiveis entirely unnoticedby them

"Should some alien being watch humanity during a der-storm, he might quite similarly decide that thunder was to

thun-us inaudible Clap might follow clap without securing any

ex-ternal sign of recognition; yet let alittle child with tiny voicebut shriek for help, and all would at once be awakened to

meet with immediate response, while others evoke no wastedemotion." (Cheshire.)

Pig 4.

PARTS OF SUHPACE OF ANTENNAE

<f, conoid hair; ho (auditory?) hollows

"The sound that bees produce by the vibrating of their

wings is often the means of calling one another If you place

a bee-hive in a very dark room, their humming will draw thescattered bees together In vain do you cover the hive, or

change its place, the bees will invariably go towards the spot

whence the sound comes." (Collin, "Guide du Proprietaired'Abeilles,"Paris, 1875.)

GENERAL CHAEACTERISTICS U

the location of the organ is more difficult. The small holes

which were discovered on the surface of the antennae, havebeen considered as organs of hearing by Lefebure (1838),

and by others later Cheshire has noticed these small holes

in the six or seven last articulations of the antennEe: holes

which become more numerous towardsthe end of the antenna,

so that the last joint carries perhaps twenty He, also, siders these as the organs of hearing, especially because theyare larger in the drones, who may need to distinguish thesounds of the queen's wings.* On this question Prof Cook,

"No Apiarist has failedto notice the effect of varioussoundsmade bythe bees upontheir comrades ofthehive, andhow con-

tagious are the sharp note of anger, the low hum of fear, andthe pleasant tone of a swarm as they commence to enter their

new home Now, whether insects take note of these tions as we recognize pitch, or whether they just distinguishthe tremor, I think no one knows."

vibra-26. It is well proven that bees can smell with their

not to \)emistaken forthe "ear holes," which are smaller, butalso located on the antennae

"Inthe case of the worker, the eight activejoints of the

an-tenna have an average of fifteen rows, of twentysmell-hollowseach, or 2,400 on each antenna The queen has a less number,giving about 1,600 on each antenna Ifthese organs are olfac-

explains all. We, perhaps, exclaim— Can it be that these little

threads we call antennae can thus carry thousands of organseach requiring its own nerve end? But greater surprises await

us, and I must admit that the examinations astonished me

of which nine are barrel-shaped and special, and the§e arecovered completely by smell-hollows An average of thirty

antennje, give the astounding number of 37,800 distinct

gans When I couple this development with the gp-eater size

of the eye of the drone, and ask what is his function, whyneeds he such a magnificent equipment? and remember that hehas not to scent the nectar from afar, nor spy out the coyblossoms as they peep between the leaves, I feel forced to theconclusion that the pursuit of the queen renders them neces-sary." (Cheshire.)

Fig 5.

LONGITUDINAL SECTION THROUGH POETION OP FLAGELLUM OF ANTENNA

OF WOHKEE

f, feeling hair; iS, smelling organ: lio, hollow; c, conoid or

cone-shaped hair; hi, hypodermal or under-skin layer; n,n, nerves in

bun-dles ; ar, articulation ; c'j conoid hair, magnified 800 times.

27 While giving these short quotations and beautiful gravings from Cheshire's anatomy of the bee, we earnestlyadvise the scientific bee-student to procure and read his work

en-Mr Cheshireshows us those minute organs sobeautifully and

extensively magnified, that in reading his book we feel asthoughwe weretransported by someGeniusinside ofthebody

of a giant insect, every detail of whose organism was laid

above,ofthe existence of nearly20,000 organsinsuch a smallthing as the antenna of a bee, this fact will not be disputed.Those of our bee-friends, who have had the goodluck to meet

tlie editor of the British Bee-Journal, Mr Cowan, duringhistrip to America, in 1887, will long remember the wonderful

GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS 13

with him This instrument, the most powerful by farthat weeverhad seen, gave us apractical peepinto the domaia ofthe

infinitesimal

38. Better than any other description of the smdllness of

atoms is thatgivenby Flammarion, inhis "Astronomic

000 years to number them."

39. Girardreports, as follows,an experimentonthe tory organs of ourlittle insects:

olfac-'

brought near her head a pin dipped in ether She at once

showed symptoms of a great anxiety; but an inodorous pinmained entirely unnoticed."

re-30 Whatever be the location of their olfactory organs,they are unquestionably endowed with a marvelous power ofdetecting the odor ofhoneyin flowers or elsewhere

One day wediscovered thatsomebeeshadenteredour room,throughthe key-hole Weturned them out,andstopped

searched forthe crevice that admitted them Finallya feeble

chimney to the fire-place, which was closed by a screen The wedge which held this screen having become somewhat loose,

the motion ofthe screen in windyweather opened a hole justlarge enough for a bee to crawl through A few bees werewaiting behind the screen, and as soon as its motion allowedone to pass, she manifested her joy by the humming which

thedoorwasopened, had becomecustomary andinterested

vis-itors.

31 Everybee-keeperhasnoticed that their flight isguided

by the scent of flowers, though they be a mile or more away

In the city of Keokuk, situated on a hill in a curve of theMississippi, the bees cross the river, a mile wide, to find theflowerson the opposite bank

32 "Not only do bees have a very acute sense of smell,

Here is an example: We hadplaced some honey on a window.Bees soon crowded upon it. Then the honey was taken away,

andthe outside shutters were closed and remained so the wholewinter When, in Spring, the shutters were opened again, thebees came back, although there was no honey on the window

No doubt, they remembered that they got honey there before

So,aninterval ofseveralmonthswasnot sufficientto effacetheimpression they had received.—(Huber, '

Nouvelles

33 It is well known, also, that bees wintered in cellars

(646) remember their previous location when taken out in

the Spring

If food is given to a colony, at the same hour, and in the

same spot, for two days in succession, they will expect it thethird day, at thesame time and place

34 "When one of her antennte is cut off, no change takesplace in the behavior of the queen If you cut both antenneenear the head, this mother, formerly held in such high consid-

eration by her people, loses all her influence, and even thematernal instinct disappears Instead of laying her eggs inthe

cells, she drops them here and there."—(Huber.)

in regard to the loss of the antennae, are equally conclusive

The workers, deprived of their antennae, returned to the hive,

where they remained inactive and soon deserted il forever,

for them

In the same way, drones, deprived of their antennae,