632
T h e
K i n g ' s
B u s i n e s s
October 1928
manufacturing centers on the bee’s abdomen. In order to start the secretion of the wax, great heat is needed, so the bees gather together in a great pendant mass, their wings buzzing rapidly all the while. Presently, “ a strange sweat, white as snow and airier than the down o f a wing, is be- ginping to break over the swarm.” These wax scales are removed by the worker bees with a pair of pincers found at one o f the knee-joints; and then chewed into a soft paste which can be molded into the delicate fabric of the cells. This comb, notwithstanding its extraordinary fragility, about one-one hundred and eightieth of an inch in thick ness, is able to .suspend a weight thirty times as great as its own. A small block o f wax is attached to the roof o f the hive, and serves as foundation, from which the layers of cells grow out downwards and sideways, always leaving a gangway for the streams of bees to pass to and fro. The shape o f the cell, six-sided|I’is exceedingly well adapted to accommodate the body o f the' grub, and also is devised to prevent waste, although when occasion requires it, in odd corners, triangular, square or other shaped cells are constructed. The measurements in a typical cell are geometrically accurate, the worker achieving a precision which baffles description. The cells are not placed horizontally, but are given a slight upward tilt, which prevents the spilling of thin honey from the tissue-like paper walls of the cell. Cells are always filled to the brim before being capped. These astonishing measurements, let it be remembered, are all taken in absolute darkness, which fact makes the wonder greater still. O ther P owers of T he B ee A luckless mouse sometimes ventures into the hive, where it is speedily stung to death by the enraged colony. Now, on the floor o f their dwelling, they find a dead body, which will soon become a 'source of offense to the hive. The body is too heavy to be carried out, yet it must not be allowed to remain in its present dangerous position. Bees have the power to manufacture, not only honey, bee-bread, md wax, but also a substance called propolis, which is vir tually a very efficient varnish. This is now called into play and thousands of bees swarm over the corpse and cover every portion o f it carefully with the varnish so that when the operation is concluded, they have sealed up the dead mouse in an air-tight tomb, where it will gradually go back into its primordial dust- The bee nurseries are interesting. Within the hive, the younger workers are always busily looking after the new born, and attending on the queen. The newly hatched grubs are fed on a kind of pap regurgitated by the nurses from their stomachs, but! in a day or two, the food is strength ened by the addition o f pollen bread, and later with honey. Then the larvae spin cocoons and the workers shut the cells with little caps o f porous wax. Within these walls they rest for 13 days, after which yet another generation o f worker bees bite off the roofs of their cradles, and prepare to participate in the hive’s busy life. The drone cells in which the queen deposits unfertilized cells are larger than the ordinary cell, and later in the season when princess bees are being planned for still larger cells are built, as a mark of respect to their future queen. The lying-in room must be o f special size. In these “ royal” cells, the queen lays the usual fertilized eggs, which, in the ordinary way, would develop into sterile un developed female bees. But, when the grubs from these cells hatch out, they are fed upon a peculiar food, “ royal jelly,” direct from the mouths o f their attendants, instead
The Story o f the Apis B y D r . A rthur I. B rown
HE story o f the Hive Bee (Apis) gives us an illustration of the astonishing powers of insect life. When . spring reawakens the sleeping earth, and the willow trees are putting on their new garments, and violet and primrose send out invitations rich with fragrance, the bee-world resumes its busy life. The first job is to institute the usual spring cleaning of the hive and to build new combs for hexagonal or six-sided cells to accommodate the eggs the queen has already begun to lay. The workers are heard at different kinds of work, some bringing in fresh stores o f pollen and honey, while others are in charge of the fast-filling nurseries. The queen is the head of the community, not because her wits are superior, for in reality her daughters far sur pass her in brains and activity, but solely because she alone has the egg-laying power and so is able to increase or re store the population. Egg-laying is her only work, all her wants being supplied by her faithful attendants. The attendants are the worker-bees who sustain the life of the hive. . They are active, intelligent, but sterile females, their reproductive organs being undeveloped. The amazing powers of these bees are among the most astonishing in all nature. The third section o f the bee community is that of the drones, or males, which take no part in the work but forage only for themselves, and even then are not able to satisfy thoroughly their greed for honey. They spend much time in flying around, very energetically looking for an emerging queen, in which hope they are usually disappointed. D iligence of T he B ee The diligence o f the working bees is immense. They toil from morning to night, with ceaseless energy gather ing precious stores of honey and pollen. In the summer time the average life of a worker bee is said to be only about two months. It literally works itself to death. It has been calculated that in a colony o f 50,000 bees, there are 30,000 workers, which, making on an average of ten trips a day, will visit 300,000 flowers. About 37,000 loads of nectar are required for the production of a pound of honey. When a flower is visited, the bee protrudes its tongue into the flower tube, sucking the nectar into its mouth, and thence into the “ honey bag,” where it is manufactured into honey. How this is done is a mystery which human in genuity cannot fathom, because no human skill has been able to make honey from the ‘sweet-tasting watery fluid called nectar. The golden pollen which the bee collects as it innocently rubs its body against ¡the precious powder when it enters the flower, is kneaded into a little ball and carried carefully back to the hive in the “ pollen-basket,” a curious little cavity in the bee’s hind leg. This cavity is made possible by the peculiar arrangement o f the hairs on the leg. O ne of T he W orld ’ s W onders The bee’s comb, made up of hexagonal cells, is one of the wonders o f the world. The cells are made o f thin plates of pliable wax, which comes from little pockets or
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