GARDENERS' CHRONICLE 



OF AMERICA 



ADOPTED AS THE OFFICIAL ORGAN OF THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF GARDENERS 



Vol. XVI. 



NOVEMBER. 1912. 



No. 1. 



The Anatomy and Physiology of the Honey Bee 



By J. B. THOMPSON, Millbrook, N. Y. 



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Amid the profound, mysterious and inexhaustible pro- 

 fusion of life by which we are surrounded, which in- 

 creases to our eyes as Science leads us onward, we behold 

 the various manifestations of the boundless power of the 

 great Creator. Amid all these there is probably not one 

 individual subject fuller of interest, alike to the different 

 minds, than that of the honey bee. Philosophers have 

 written and poets have sung their praise, and the man of 

 science sees involved in the life of the honey bee some 

 of the most attractive problems that can possibly engage 

 his attention within the circle of created being. 



To those who look merely on the surface of things 

 for amusement, there is the spectacle presented of an in- 

 sect community constituted under a regular government, 

 exhibiting various social phenomena which are not the 

 less attractive because they are but partially understood. 



When we endeavor to classify objects in nature we sep- 

 arate them into three great divisions — the animal, the 

 vegetable and mineral kingdoms. These again are divided 

 into groups. In one section of the animal kingdom is the 

 sub-kingdom, annulosa, so called, from the insects in- 

 cluded in it having their bodies arranged in rings, joints 

 or segments articulated to each other; to this class the 

 honey bee belongs, and the varieties are British, Cyprian, 

 Italian, Syrian, Carniolan, Ligurian and Punic, or 

 African bee, which has been imported in recent years. 



In the economy of a hive there are queens, drones and 

 worker bees. 



We will now enter into a minute investigation of the 

 bodies of these, more particularly the workers, which 

 have neither bones nor cartilaginous framework, but 

 whose structure and covering is formed of a hard leathery 

 substance called chitine, which looks like horn but is dif- 

 ferent in composition, and the whole is covered externally 

 with a mass of hairs of eight dift^irent kinds. 



The body of a bee is divided into three sections — the 

 head, thorax and abdomen. The head is composed of the 

 vertex or crown, on which are placed the three stemma, 

 or simple eyes. One is in front and two are at the back. 

 This is their natural protection from birds and small 

 bovs with bonnets, when inside a flower. The other 

 ])arts of the head are the gonae or cheeks, the face 

 and nose on either side of which are situated the 

 two large compound eyes, named the ocelli, which have 

 one hundred and twenty facets to each, with a hair at the 

 junction of each facet, shapefl like an arrowhead, these 

 hairs protecting their eyes in place of eyelids. 



Then the two antennae or feelers project from the 

 center of the face above the nose, and is composed of 

 scape and flagellum, with thirteen joints, terminating with 

 a round knob in which are situated the ends of the dif- 

 ferent nerves. These guide the bee in all its movements 

 on each side of which are situated the mandibles or jaws, 

 inside the hive in the dark. Below this is the mouth. 



for kneading wax, etc., and from the mouth is the pharynx 

 or gullet, a tube very like an elephant's trunk in shape, 

 which, when at rest, is doubled under the breast, but 

 when in action falls as' low as the feet ; down through 

 this the tongue projects, and up which the bee sucks nec- 

 tar. At the point of the tongue is the boutong, or spoon, 

 covered with hairs like a brush, by which the bee col- 

 lects and then sucks up the sweet substance it finds in 

 flowers, called nectar. This nectar if collected into any 

 vessel would ferment, but it undergoes a process in the 

 honey sac of the little bee by which water is extracted 

 and certain acids are formed, and when regurgitated into 

 the cell it is honey, and will keep for any length of time. 



Three thousand five hundred bees weigh one pound, 

 and it takes all these coming home with their honey sacs 

 full to make one ounce of honey, and from six to eight 

 pounds of bees make an ordinar)' swarm. 



We come now to the second division of the body of a 

 bee, which has three parts — the part next the head, the 

 prothorax, then the mesa-thorax, and meta-thorax. 



The prothorax has a thin, flexible neck connecting it 

 with the head. The upper side of all three is thickly 

 covered with downy hairs, and on the under side of the 

 worker they are long and feathered, for the purpose of 

 holding pollen. To each part of the thorax is attached a 

 pair of legs, and to the last two a pair of wings. Each 

 pair of legs differ, and those of the worker from the queen 

 and drone. The first pair of legs terminate with 

 palms, the other two with plantae or soles, with a 

 hollow part in the center, through which exudes an ad- 

 hesive secretion, by which, when they press their feet on 

 a smooth surface, such as glass, or upside down, they 

 are enabled to walk by the vacuum created. On the edge 

 of the palms is a row of hairs called the pecten, or 

 comb, by which they clean all debris and pollen from their 

 eyes when coming out at the entrance to the hive, and on 

 the outer edge of the soles they have strong claws like 

 the shears of a crane, by which they can hold on to 

 any rough surface. On the inside of all these legs are 

 rows of hairs like miniature scrubbing brushes, by which 

 they clean all their little bodies, and on the outside of the 

 third pair of legs they have rows of hairs which form 

 pollen baskets. They moisten the pollen, roll it into little 

 balls, place in the pollen baskets and carry home to 

 make the bread, as they require pollen, honey and water 

 in about equal proportions to make a perfect food. So 

 experienced bee keepers have a vessel with water, into 

 which they put a pinch of salt, and a vase lying on its 

 side, into which they keep a supply of peasemeal, as a 

 substitute for pollen in early spring. 



We now come to the abdomen, which is the third divi- 

 sion of the body ; it is connected to the thorax by a short 

 tube, the petiole. 



The abdomen is made up of six rings of chitine, which 



