Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-11-24
GIANT INDIAN BEES.
An Expedition to Be Sent After a
Stock for This Country.
HOW THE NATIVES CAPTURE THEM.
The Bundle Bee Is Found to Be an Active
Gatherer of Honey.
INSTRUCTIVE FACTS FOR API4RISTS

Inc department OF Agriculture is ABOUT
to send an expedition to India for the pur-
pose of procuring certain giant bees which
are wild in that country. They are the big
gest species known in the world, and they
build combs in the forests as large as ordi-
nary housedoors These huge combs, SAYS
the Washington Star, hanging from the
limbs of lofty trees or from projecting
ledges of rock at a high altitude, give enor-
nous quantities of wax. Bee hunting is a
profession in India.
The bee hunters wear no clothing save
breechclouts They have a superstitious
fear Of the insects. Though dreading to en-
counter them on fair terms they are very
skillful in attacking their nests by strata
gem. Their usual method is to climb the
tree from high limb of which the comb
depends swinging below the hive long
stick with a bunch of ignited leaves on the
end of it, until the bees are driven out,
many of them falling with singed wings to
the ground, but the majority ascending into
the air above the comb and lowering in a
cloud. This opportunity is taken by the
seeker after spoil to cut away the great
comb which he quickly lowers by means of
a rope to the ground below One gets a
notion of the vast quantities of honey and
wax collected in this manner from the stores
of the latter material to be seen in the ware
houses and shops Of the cities, tons upon
tons of it together. 1t is an article of ex-
tensive export from India.
The proposition is to fetch these bees to
this country and domesticate them here if
possible. If they could spread their charms
in the semi-tropical forests of the United
States they might be made to supply con-
siderable crops of the finest and most valua-
ble wax.
The Drones Are of Ordinary Size.
Curiously enough, the drones of this spe-
cies are no larger than the ordinary bees,
and this facts affords reason for hoping that
they will mate with the females of stocks
already accIimated here. These wonderful
insects from India have longer tongues than
are possessed by other bees, and the belief is
entertained that they could secure from
many kinds of flowers honey which no
goes to waste. Dreadful stories are told in
the country where they belong of their ex-
traordinary ferocity and of attacks which
they have made upon whole villages of peo-
pie with fatal results, but the fact has been
demonstrated that capable bee keepers can
handle them easily and safely.
Considerable numbers of humble bees have
recently been imported from Europe in to
Australia and New Zealand. Hitherto
growers of red clover in those countries have
been obliged to obtain seed for planting
each year from England, because this crop
produced no seed, for lack Of humble bees to |
fertilize the blossoms. Bundle bees find in
rod ,aln Il
their aid in distributing pollen this plant |
would perish off the face of the earth. Find |
ING it very expensive to import their red |
clover seed annually, the farmers of the |
~ntries mentioned decided to procure |
humble bees for themselves. Accordingly |
a lot were taken while in the alternating |
stage, during cold weather. packed in moss |
and carried over the ocean in the refrigera- |
tor compartment of a ship. They were set |
loose on arrival and already they have null |
tipiied so numerouslv in that part of the |
world that it is feared that they will become |
a nuisance by consuming all the flower |
juices which the honey bees require for their |
own purposes. 1t seems to be the same wav |
with every sort of animal that is introduced |
10 Australia. Invariably the beast, bird or |
insect proceeds at once to flourish to such an
extent as to upset the normal balance of |
creation.
Rumble Bees Are Active Workers.
humble bees are generally supposed to |
be Of no particular use in the world 1t is |
not their fault. They are active and indus |
tTioCs honey gatherers but there are never |
enough of them in one colony to make a |
store that is worth taking. When winter |
comes the queen humble bee seeks a place |
In the ground for hiding safely during the |
cold months. She finds such aspot beneath |
moss, or perhaps in a heap of leaves There |
she hibernates comfortably, remaining fast |
asleep until spring arrives. The warm sun |
OF approaching summer awakens her and she |
erawls out. Immediately she looks about |
her for a nest suitable to breed in. An old |
nest vacated by field mice serves her pur |
pose admirably. Having settled upon quar- |
ters, she begins collecting pollen from |
flowers, storing it away in two pockets |
which she carries on her hind legs Into |
the nest chosen she puts the dollen and |
goes for more, fetching load after load until |
she has formed ball of pollen perhaps as
much as an inch in diameter In the ball |
of pollen she lays her eggs and after few
days they are Matched, bring forth little
worm-like larva
The Larvae Matched in the mass of pollen
feed upon the nutritious material consum-
ing the portions nearest az hand until each
one has cleared little room. Then it pro-
ceeds 10 spin cocoon around itself, and
after little while it comes out of this
chrysalis tullfedged WORKER bee AL
most Immediately these new fiedred bees
begin gathering pollen, which they contin-
ually add to the original lump, making it
bigger and bigger while the queen goes on
laying eggs in it as long as warm weather
lasts. Perhaps before winter arrives the
mass Will have grown to the size of ones |
two fists. 1t is literally honeycombed with
cells from which the young bees have made
their escape, and these empty chambers are
used for the storing of honey. Most of the
honey gathered by humble bees is obtained
from red clover
Only Queens Survive Cold Weather
Up to nearly the end of the summer the
queen lays only worker eggs-that is to say,
eggs which produce females which are un-
developed sexually. They are the honey
gathering and comb-building class When
autumn is coming on, however, she pro-
duces males-called drones At the same
period also she lays eggs which give birth
TO fully developed females, all of which are
destined to be queens the following wear,
These females mate with drones and thus
are rendered able to reproduce their spe-
cles in the next season. From 6 to u of
the future queens are turned out by each
hive. When cold weather arrives they
crawl into snug places, where they hiber-
nate during the winter, gathering pollen in
the spring and laying their eggs in it. Thus
is completed the cycle of their species.
Only the queens survive, all the workers
and drones dying
Thus it may be said that every bumble-
bee hive is wiped out each autumn. Here
is one of the reasons why this genus of
apide is not useful to mankind. They do
not gather in numbers sufficient to accumu-
ale large stores of honey, Notwithstanding |