Aug. 18, 1904. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



565 





Contributed Articles 



] 



" Bees Packing Pollen in the Cells." 



BY ARTHUR C. MILLER. 



ON pag-e 294, is an article by Mr. Getaz on the above sub- 

 ject, with figures shown herewith. His opening para- 

 graph cites the questions of a correspondent as to how 

 bees can ram the pollen into the cells with their heads 

 when such delicate and tender organs as the eyes and an- 

 tenna; constitute the forepart of the bee's head. Then he 



d/dicaiaiicn 







Af-^. 



says : " The correspondent is widely mistaken in speaking 

 of the eyes and antenna of the bees as ' delicate and tender 

 organs.' Bees and other insects are not built on that plan." 



I chanced to be the person who first challenged the 

 " battering ram " story, and endeavored to show the ab- 

 surdity of the theory that the bee so uses her head. 



Mr. Getaz has confused structure with function. Struc- 

 turally, the bee is relatively strong, and the head is quite 

 hard enough to pack the soft pollen, even more compactly 

 than we find it. In fact, if the head was not strong it could 



not support the jaws with which the bee does so much work. 

 But the sense-organs distributed over the head are exceed- 

 ingly delicate, and while well protected from injury by such 

 blows as ordinarily come to the bee, their perfect action is 

 dependent upon their freedom from dirt and dust. 



If one has not a copy of Cowan's or Cheshire's books, 

 it will be worth his while to turn to the article by Mr. 

 Getaz, referred to above. For the sake of more ready ex- 

 planation, I reproduce the illustrations used by Mr. G. 



In Figs. 1 and 2 are shown the joints of the antennae, 

 while Fig. 3 shows one of the organs of the latter. There 

 are several other organs. In the antenna: are believed to 

 be located organs of touch, smell, hearing, and an organ 

 whose exact function is unknown. Fig. 4 shows a section 

 of the compound eye, but fails to show the hairs which are 

 placed to protect it. 



Unbroken pollen-grains are quite fine enough to lodge 

 in many of the depressions and between the hairs, but when 

 they burst, or the husk opens, a far finer powder is set free, 

 which, if the bee " rammed the pollen in with its head," 

 would completely clog these organs. In gathering pollen 

 the bee sticks it together by some moist substance, either 

 honey or some gland secretion. This not only holds the 

 pollen-grains together, but causes them to swell, and some 

 of them burst. This moisture, together with the starchy 

 properties of the pollen, are accountable for the density and 

 compactness of pollen after it has been stored for a time. 



Mr. Getaz further says : " Exactly how the packing of 

 the pollen in the cells is done no one can tell. That the 

 pollen is packed, tamped and rammed hard, every one 

 knows." 



Freshly stored pollen is not " packed hard," but soon 

 becomes so, for the reasons I have given above. Many per- 

 sons now know just how it is packed, i. e., by being spread 

 and kneaded by the bees' mandibles. I have watched them 

 many times, have shown it to many others, and if Mr. G. 

 were here I could show him hundreds of workers busily at it. 



Lots of things which have been accepted as true about 

 bees are being found to be wrong. It is hard to unlearn 

 that which we have grown up believing, but it is what we 

 often have to do. Many statements pass current because 

 they were made by some one with a reputation for skill, 

 accuracy, and close observation, the public not stopping to 

 consider whether or not the reputation is well-founded. In 

 this instance it is not necessary for Mr. Getaz, or any one 

 else, to take my word for it ; they can all go to see for 

 themselves. Providence Co., R. I. 



Extracting Supers and Swarming— Excluders 



BY C. P. D.\DANT. 



SHALLOW extracting-combs are blamed for making 

 bees, swarm, in Mr. Doolittle's conversation. But don't 

 the badants use such combs ? and are they not notori- 

 ous for the small amount of swarming they have ?" 



The above quotation is taken from the " Stray Straws " 

 of Dr. C. C. Miller, in Gleanings of July 1. Dr. Miller is 

 right in his surmise, but nevertheless I believe that Mr. 

 Doolittle may have been right in his affirmation, as much 

 depends upon what kind of shallow extracting frames are 

 used. I have seen extracting-supers of the same size as the 

 comb-honey supers for 4'4^ sections. These supers are alto- 

 gether inadequate, in my opinion, for extracting purposes. 

 We should bear in mind that the saving of the comb is of 

 very great advantage to the bees, and the room which is 

 ample for them, when comb honey is produced and they 

 have to build all the comb, is entirely too narrow when 

 supers already full of built combs are supplied. 



We use a super with frames the side-bar of which is 6 



