The Honey-Bee

Teacher’s Story

URING many years naturalists have been studying the habits and adaptations of the honey-bees, and, as yet, the story of their wonderful ways is not half told. Although we know fairly well what the bees do, yet we have no inkling of the processes which lead to a perfect government and management of the bee community; and even the beginner may discover things never known before about these fascinating little workers. In beginning this work it might be well to ask the pupils if they have ever heard of a republic that has many kings and only one queen; and where the citizens do all the governing without voting, and where the kings are powerless and the queen works as hard and longer than any of her subjects; and then tell them that the pages of history contain no account of a republic so wonderful as this; yet the nearest beehive is the home of just this sort of government.

In addition to the interest of the bee colony from a nature-study standpoint, it is well to get the children interested in bee-keeping as a commercial enterprise. A small apiary well managed may bring in an acceptable income; and it should be the source of a regular revenue to the boys and girls of the farm, for one hive should net the young bee-keeper from three to five dollars per year and prove a business education to him in the meantime.

Bees are perfect socialists. They have non-competitive labor, united capital, communal habitations and unity of interests. The bee commune is composed of castes as immutable as those of the Brahmins, but these castes exist for the benefit of the whole society instead of for the individuals belonging to them. These castes we have named queens, drones and workers, and perhaps, first of all, we should study the physical adaptations of the members of these castes for their special work in the community.

The Worker (p. 446, Fig. 3.)

There are three divisions to the body of the bee, as in all insects—head, thorax and abdomen. The head bears the eyes, antennæ and mouth-parts, (p. 448, W.) There are two large compound eyes on either side of the head and three simple eyes between them. The antennæ arise from the face, each consisting of two parts, one straight segment at the base, and the end portion which is curved and made up of many segments. There is also a short, bead-like segment where the antenna joins the face. A lens is needed to see the jaws of the bee, folded across, much like a pair of hooks, and below them the tongue, which is a sucking tube; the length of the tongue is very important, for upon this depends the ability of the bee to get nectar from the flowers.

The thorax bears three pairs of legs below and two pairs of wings above. Each leg consists of six segments, and the foot or tarsus has four segments and a pair of claws. The front leg has an antennæ comb between the tibia and tarsus, (p. 447, F, a,) the hind leg has a pollen basket, which is a long cavity bordered by hairs wherein the pollen is packed and carried (p. 447, A, pb.) On the other side of the large joint beyond the pollen basket are rows of spines which are used to remove the pollen from the baskets (p. 447, B, pc), and between these two large segments are the pincers for removing the wax (p. 447, B, wp.)

The front pair of wings is larger than the hind pair. The wings of the old bees that have done much work are always frayed at the edges.

There are six segments or rings to the abdomen, plainly visible from above. If the five segments next the thorax are marked above with yellow bands on their front edges, the bee is an Italian. On the lower side of the abdomen, each segment is made up of a central plate with an overlapping plate on each side; just at the front edge on each side of the central plate is a wax pocket which cannot be seen unless the bee is dissected under a microscope. From these pockets are secreted little flecks of wax (p. 448, X.)

The Queen

The queen bee is a truly royal insect. She is much larger than the worker, her body being long, pointed, and extending far beyond the tips of her closed wings, giving her a graceful form. She has no pollen baskets or pollen comb upon her legs, because it is not a part of her work to gather pollen or honey. The queen bee starts life as an ordinary worker egg, which is selected for special development. The workers tear down the partitions of the cells around the chosen egg and build a projection over the top, making an apartment, (p. 446, Fig. 4.) The little white bee grub, as soon as it hatches, is fed for five days on the same food as is given to the worker grubs for three days; it is a special substance, secreted by the worker bees, called royal jelly. This food is very nourishing, and after being reared upon it, the princess larva weaves around herself a silken cocoon and changes to a pupa. Meanwhile the workers have sealed her cell with wax.

When the princess-pupa changes to the full-grown queen she cuts a circular door in the cover of the cell and pushes through it into the world. Her first real work is to hunt for other queen cells and if she finds one, she will, if not hindered, make a hole in its side and sting to death the poor princess within. If she finds another full-grown queen, the two fight until one succumbs. The queen never uses her sting upon anything or anyone except a rival queen.

After a few days she takes her marriage flight in the air, where she mates with some drone, and then returns to her hive and begins her great work as mother of the colony. She runs about on the comb, pokes her head into a cell to see if it is ready, then turning about thrusts her abdomen in and neatly glues an egg fast to the bottom.

When the honey season is at its height she works with great rapidity, sometimes laying at the rate of six eggs per minute, often producing 3,000 eggs during a day, which would equal twice her own weight. If the workers do not allow her to destroy the other queens, she then takes a portion of her colony with her and swarms out, seeking a home elsewhere.

The Drone

The drone differs much in shape from the queen and the worker. He is broad and blunt, being very different in shape from the queen, and larger than the worker, (p. 446, Fig. 2.) He has no pollen baskets on his legs and has no sting. His eyes are very much larger than those of the queen or the worker and unite at the top of the head (p. 448, D.) His wings are larger and stronger than those of the worker or queen. It is not his business to go out and gather honey or to help in the work of the hive. His tongue is not long enough to get honey from the flowers; he has no pollen basket in which to carry pollen; he has no sting to fight enemies and no pockets for secreting wax; he is fed by his sister workers until the latter part of the season when the honey supply runs low, and then he is stung or bitten to death by these same sisters who have always given him such good care. The drone should be called a prince or king, since his particular office in the hive is to mate with the queen.

References—How to Keep Bees, Comstock; The Bee People, Morley.