Page:LA2-NSRW-1-0236.jpg

BEE

gable workers and very hard to discourage. Carpenter bee, digger bee, potter bee, cuckoo bse, honey bee, bumblebee—all are of much interest and well-worth close study.

The social bees, including the bumblebee and honey bee, are the best known. The latter was originally introduced from Europe into America, more than three centuries ago, and escaping swarms stocked the forests with what are now called wild bees. There are three kinds of individuals: the queens, the workers or undeveloped females and the drones or males. The queens and workers have stings connected with poison sacs, but the drones have no stings. Each kind is produced in a particular kind of cell. That in which the que<en is reared is especially large. The undeveloped queens are provided with a kind of food called royal jelly. The cell of the drone is larger than that in which the worker is reared. It is possible, however, for the active workers to enlarge a cell that would ordinarily produce a worker, and by changing the food to royal jelly cause the young grub to develop into a queen. When several queens mature at the same time there is a royal battle among the rivals and the one who succeeds in stinging the other to death is left as reigning sovereign. The queens lay eggs in large numbers, placing in different cells those that are intended for workers, drones and new queens.

The drones are males and are destroyed by the workers soon after the honey season. The workers do all the work of the hive. They gather the honey, bee-glue and pollen, which is made into bee-bread with which the young are fed. They clean the hive, form the wax, build the comb and care for the young. The formation of wax is very interesting. Some of the workers gorge themselves with honey and remain quiet for about twenty-four hours, after which the wax comes out as little plates from the wax pockets on the under surface of the body. About twenty-one pounds of honey are consumed to manufacture one pound of wax, but this amount will make about 35,000 honey-comb cells. The cells are six-sided; in building the same the workers begin at the top and build downwards, leaving some spaces for passage ways. Some of the cells are for honey, others for eggs.

The migration or swarming of the bees usually happens when the hive becomes too crowded. The first swarm, led by the old queen, usually starts out in June, leaving the n&w queen in possession of tjbie hive.

A second and third swarming sometimes take place. The swarm comes out, numbering thousands, and soon lights, usually on the limb of a tree, hanging like a bag, from which it may be taken and put into a hive.

"A swarm of bees in May

Is worth a load of hay.

A swarm of bees in June

Is worth a silver spoon.

But a swarm in July

Is not worth a fly." Before swarming takes place there is no little commotion in the hive. The queen (or, better, mother) of a hive is an indispensable member, and beautifully cared for by the others. But between queen and queen there is little friendliness, and when a new queen comes forth from her cell the old queen knows her day is over, she must leave and go off to establish a new home. Warning of the flitting is given by both new queen and old. At the sound of the piping of the former a thrill passes through the hive, the queen giving special sign of agitation. Swarming takes place on a fine day, and may be considerably retarded by cloudy weather. Some of the new hives may be opened, an observer having opportunity to study the condition of the swarm and the progress of the work. Keepers often use little machines that puff smoke into the hives, this making the bees quiet without hurting them, and allowing the keeper to handle them. Bees become quite tame when handled often.

The sting is at the extreme end of the abdomen. The poison, pumped from the poison-sac with great rapidity, exudes from the many infinitesimal barbs of the dagger-like sting. The angry bee, leaving her sting behind in her victim, falls a victim, too, and shortly dies. A person stung should immediately remove the sting, which retains poison. The bee's tongue is a delicate and complicated instrument, which, when not in use, is folded back beneath its head; when active, working with lightning flash. For especially deep, tubular flowers there is an extra length of tongue that can be shot out from within. The tongue is hairy and there is a little, spoon-like termination. Some of the nectar taken up is eaten and digested; some stored in the honey-sac, situated in the big end of the abdomen. This and the pollen are taken home for the good of the community. Pollen accumulates in dust on the feathery hairs of legs and body, later to be collected in the two pollen baskets, one on the fourth joint of each hind leg. The worker gathers the pollen together with her legs, then scrapes it with one hind leg into the basket of the other leg. It is most interesting to watch her gathering pollen. " Sometimes she looks as if she were running about over a bead of flowers to find something she had

QUEEN BEE

WORKER

DRONE