294 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1945 



In spite of this close association, which goes back untold centuries, 

 the honeybee has not acquiesced to man's influence in the same manner 

 as have the domestic animals of our present day. In truthfulness it 

 can be said that there are no domesticated honeybees. The life and 

 the habits of the honeybee are the same today as when man first dis- 

 covered that the product of these well-armed insects was worth risking 

 life and limb. The social life of the bee with its complex division of 

 labor and its various sexual forms have largely defied all effort to 

 change its nature better to adapt it to man's use. The free nature of 

 the bee and its insistence on mating in the wide open spaces have 

 been the chief stumbling blocks in efforts to improve or to domesticate 

 the honeybee. The sexual development and the mating habits of bees 

 are so different from that of the domestic animals that essentially 

 nothing has been done through selection and breeding to improve the 

 honeybee. As an illustration of this difference the male bees, the 

 drones, are produced parthenogenetically ; that is, the drone has no 

 father but he can boast of a grandfather. Queens can give birth to 

 male bees without mating and, even when they are mated, the mating 

 has no effect on the male offspring. 



Research workers have delved into the early records of man and 

 written volumes on the antiquity of beekeeping ; but, since the intent 

 of this article is to acquaint readers with some facts of man's current 

 dependence on bees and how they are handled, it will be necessary to 

 leave the romantic past in favor of the equally romantic true story 

 of today. 



There is more to beekeeping than meets the eye. To the average 

 person it has to do with the production of honey and beeswax. Other 

 than those who have had actual experience in keeping bees, most per- 

 sons have little conception of how they can be handled and made to 

 work for their owners. There is little mystery about the production 

 of most of our common foods. There is no mystery about the source 

 of milk, butter, and eggs, and the production of fruits and vegetables 

 and their route to the ultimate consumer are matters of everyday 

 knowledge. On the other hand how can bees — wild, undomesticated 

 insects — be directed to produce honey and beeswax? How are these 

 products taken from the bees? Is it necessary to put honey through 

 a manufacturing process before it is ready for consumption ? 



There was a time when beekeeping was thought of simply in terms 

 of honey produced, but times have changed. Beekeeping now has a 

 much more important part to play. The value of bees as agents of 

 cross-pollination far outweighs the monetary value of the annual out- 

 put of honey and beeswax. 



Why do we hear so much about pollination these days? Is it a 

 new fad or fancy, or is there some basic reason for emphasizing this 



