. American bee journal. Bee culture; Bees. THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 475 our (and your) great bee anatomists would take delight in investigating. My standpoint is: Bees can only void their excreta naturally when on the wing. I do not put forward as a theory, but as a fact, and upon it base a theory that the construction of the bee isarvanged to that end. that its home under ordinary conditions should never be fouled. Herein is a very great deal more than appears at first sight, but I venture to assert that if sought out faithfully and well, it will be found that the" muscles that gi
. American bee journal. Bee culture; Bees. THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 475 our (and your) great bee anatomists would take delight in investigating. My standpoint is: Bees can only void their excreta naturally when on the wing. I do not put forward as a theory, but as a fact, and upon it base a theory that the construction of the bee isarvanged to that end. that its home under ordinary conditions should never be fouled. Herein is a very great deal more than appears at first sight, but I venture to assert that if sought out faithfully and well, it will be found that the" muscles that give the power of flying, govern in a sense the power of discharging ex- creta. Mr. Clarke does not believe " that protracted confinement produces dys- enteric symptoms if the bees are in such a state that they can void dry excreta," which is equivalent to say- ing, one cannot be frozen, and boiling hot at the same time, but transition from the one state to the other may be so rapid under certain conditions that it is easy to assume, and to prove, also, that bees that at one time were capable of voiding dry feces, would become dysenteric after very slightly protracted confinement uncfer other conditions. Twenty-four liours' con- finement to full combs, on a railway journey, being considered '•protrac- ted " in the one case, while twice 24 days" quiet confinement tlirough stress of weather in a hive " well ; would but be talked of as a nice time of natural rest for the bees. Mr. Clarke furtlier says. '? when we ' have discovered the conditions under which bees discharge dry feces only, we sliall have solved the i)roblem of successful wintering," and to this I in a measure agree, and in the mean- time claim to have discovered one of those conditions. Of my position in regard to this matter, though hailing from England (the old country, where so little is supposed to be known of bee-culture by the majority of American bee- keepers), I am as
Size: 2610px × 958px
Photo credit: © Library Book Collection / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bo, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1860, booksubjectbees, bookyear1861
