Wasps, Bees, and Ants 



529 



hs 



regurgitates its nectar either into the mouth of another bee or into a clean (new 

 wax) cell, usually near the margin of the comb. At the bottom of the honey- 

 sac is the so-called stomach-mouth, a little pea-like protuberance with two 

 cross-slits, making four lips. These lips can be opened or closed voluntarily ; 

 if the bee drinking nectar wishes to bring it back to the hive to store it, she 

 keeps them closed, thus making a sac of the honey- 

 stomach, open only through the mouth ; whenever she 

 wishes to feed herself she opens them, thus allowing 

 the honey or pollen to pass on into the true or digest- 

 ing stomach. This arrangement also permits of the 

 regurgitation of the bee-jelly or bee-milk (fed the 

 larvae by the nurse workers), which is believed to be 

 prepared in the true stomach, pressed past the lips 

 forward into the honey-stomach and on through the 

 oesophagus into the mouth. 



When the nectar is put into the honey-cells it has 

 still to have much water evaporated from it. To 

 accomplish this an effective system of ventilation 

 (see p. 530) is now set up in the hive, so that air- 

 currents pass constantly over the open nectar-con- 

 taining cells; moreover, by the very vigor of this 

 activity on the part of the bees the temperature of 

 their bodies is raised; by radiation of heat from the 

 bodies the temperature in the hive is sensibly in- 

 creased, and the currents of warm air soon carry off the excess water. To 

 make the honey "keep," that is, to make it antiseptic, formic acid is added 

 to it, probably from glands in the head whose secretions distinctly show its 

 presence. It is just possible that the formic acid is supplied by the poison- 

 sacs, the poison introduced by the bee's sting being largely composed of 

 formic acid. But it is much more probable that at the time of the regurgi- 

 tation of the nectar from the honey-stomach through the mouth the formic- 

 acid secretions from the head-glands are mixed with it. 



Nectar for honey-making is obtained by bees from a great many different 

 plants, but that from some makes honey better, to our taste, than that from 

 others. Among the most important producers of the best honey in the east and 

 north are white clover, basswood, buckwheat, and the fruit-trees and small 

 fruits; in the middle states are the tulip-tree, sorrel-tree, sweet clover, and 

 alfalfa; in the south are the mangrove, cabbage- and saw-palmettos, and 

 sorrel-tree; while in the west are alfalfa and white sage. The best and 

 most of the California honey is from the wild white sage. 



Besides pollen and nectar, two other substances are collected and brought 

 to the hive by the foraging workers. At some seasons of the year when 



FIG. 735. Alimentary 

 canal of v/orker honey- 

 bee shovring (hs) 

 honey-sac lying di- 

 rectly behind (ai) 

 cesophagus. (Much 

 enlarged.) 



