208 



July, ipii. 



American Hee JonrnaJj 



taken from the extractor, sitting by tlie 

 door ready to take them out and ex- 

 change for full ones. My scales are 

 sitting on the end of the bench near 

 this same door, and more for pastime 

 than for any particular purpose I 

 hardly knew why I did it, I took two of 

 these empty combs out of the basket 

 and placed them on the scoop of the 

 scales, .^fter noting their weight, I 

 took them back to the extractor and 

 went through the same ceremony as I 

 did the first time, when they were full 

 of honey. And wliat was the result? 

 They weighed 11 ounces — almost 3.^ of 

 a pound less than they did when I 

 placed them in the extractor. 



I do not say that these 11 ounces 

 would be a positive loss if left in the 

 combs, for I imagine that they would 

 eventually, in one way or another, ar- 

 rive in the tanks with the rest of the 

 crop. But when extracting 100 combs 

 these 11 ounces would figure up some- 

 where near 30 pounds, and wouldn't it 

 be unnecessary labor to carry them 

 continually back and forth when a lit- 

 tle more time at the extractor would 

 save all this trouble ? 



When the combs are once in the ex- 

 tractor, it takes hardly a minute to re- 

 verse the baskets a second time, and 

 give the combs a second extracting. 

 Only a few revolutions with high speed 

 are necessary to secure those 11 ounces. 

 Reversing the baskets a second time 

 has the effect of "shaking the honey 

 loose," as we might call it, and, if prac- 

 ticed, will certainly produce cleaner 

 combs. 



La Salle, N. Y. 



The Wonderful Eyes of Bees 



BY C. P. DADANT. 



I do not believe that there exists in 

 the entire animal creation a single liv- 

 ing being endowed with abetter system 

 of vision than the honey-bee. 



The eyes of bees are 5 in number — 3 

 small round eyes or " ocelli," arranged 

 in a triangle at the top of the head, and 

 2 large compound eyes formed of 

 thousands of facets, each of which may 

 be considered as a separate eye. 



The ocelli are said by scientists to 

 be those which enable the bees to see 

 within the hive in the dark. Although 

 no positive evidence can be offered, 

 this seems quite evident. The entire 

 organization of the hive, the building 

 of combs, the handling and sealing of 

 honey, the rearing of brood, the mak- 

 ing of cells of different shape accord- 

 ing to the reqirements, indicate that in 

 addition to the antennae, which are or- 

 gans of touch and of feeling, and per- 

 haps also of hearing, the bees must be 

 able to see in dark places. Their ac- 

 tions within the hive are very deliberate, 

 and there is no groping. 



It is, however, in the action of their 

 compound eyes, and in the organiza- 

 tion of those eyes that the greatest 

 wonders are encountered. We, who 

 enjoy the possession of two eyes only, 

 know how much help they are to us, 

 and realize how necessary they are 

 when we accidentally or temporarily 

 lose the sight of one of them. But the 

 bee's compound eyes are composed, 

 according to the best authorities, of 

 thousands of facets, which are practi- 



cally separate eyes, and as they are 

 placed at each side of the head they 

 permit them to see in all directions. If 

 we compare our vision (we who have 

 but two eyes) when one eye is closed, 

 with our full sight, we may perhaps 

 gain a faint idea of the power of sight 

 of an insect endowed with 6300 eyes on 

 each side of the head. This is the num- 

 ber of eye-facets approximately counted 

 by Cheshire. These facets face in al- 

 most every possible direction — forward, 

 backward, up and down. 



Every being is endowed by Nature, 

 through the " struggle for life " and the 

 "survival of the fittest," with the most 

 necessary instruments for the purposes 

 to be fulfilled. The honey-bee, hatched 

 in a dark cavity, a tree-trunk, a cave, is 

 destined, after it has fully matured, to 

 soar about the country, seeking for its 

 food in the broadest sunshine during 

 the hottest time of the year. It needs 

 to fly among trees, high in the air or 

 low down among weeds, reeds and 

 grasses, with the wind bending their 

 twigs in every direction. It leaves its 

 home on a bright day, must recognize 

 the spot and return to it without error, 

 under penalty of death from starvation, 

 fatigue, cold, or the poisonous stings 

 of other bees defending their home 

 against intruders. Thus we see the 

 young worker-bee, at her first flight, 

 and the queen, or the drone as well, 

 turn about in circles constantly increas- 

 ing, to mark the exact position of the 

 home. So well does the bee ascertain 

 the exact location that if the hive be 

 moved only a few inches, and there is 

 within a short distance some means of 

 comparison, you will see her hunt 

 about the spot where the hive ought to 

 be, even if it is right by. 



When hives of similar colors and 

 shape are placed side by side in long 

 files, the bees sometimes make a mis- 

 take. This does not happen, however, 

 if there is a tree, a stump — some no- 

 ticeable object which will enable them 

 to take eye-measurements. 



So well have the bees marked the 

 location of their home that it is said by 

 some that they must have a sixth 

 sense, which they call the "sense of 

 direction." They forget that the ability 

 to direct themselves to and from their 

 home is entirely lost as soon as you 

 take them away from the radius of 

 their accustomed flight. It is well 

 known by those who make it a busi- 

 ness to transport bees, that if their 

 hives are moved without caution with- 

 in a radius of 2 miles, the old workers, 

 or a portion of them, will return to the 

 home location. The distance from 

 which they can recognize the direction 

 of their home changes with the topo- 

 graphical conditions. In a very level 

 country, without timber or natural ob- 

 structions, they find their location 

 much farther than in situations where 

 hills, large tracts of timber, and other 

 impediments narrow their flight and 

 their view. Where they have never 

 traveled, they lose all sense of direction. 



If it were true, as some modern writ- 

 ers would have us believe, that the bee's 

 sight is dim, how could they find their 

 way among trees and branches without 

 difficulty? How could they lower 

 themselves among the grasses, down to 

 the little white clover blossoms mod- 

 estly hiding itself and brought to their 



notice only through its fragrance and 

 the smell of the nectar which it car- 

 ries ? How could they find the crack 

 or crevice or the woodpecker's hole in 

 the tree-trunk ? How could they find 

 the key-hole in the careless grocer's 

 back door, with the leaky case of 

 honey lying behind it ? 



The swarm issues and gathers on a 

 limb. A few bees have alighted, then 

 more, then more, till the swarm has 

 settled. Scouts have gone ahead in 

 every direction. They are gone an 

 hour, perhaps two, but soon one of 

 them comes back. She has found a 

 suitable place. How does she tell it ? 

 We do not know. But often, though 

 not always, the swarm follows a scout 

 in a bee-line to the hollow tree or the 

 lining of some frame house, between 

 the plaster and the weather-board, or 

 perhaps to some empty hive hidden 

 among the grass and neglected by the 

 careless owner. Here let me say that 

 empty hives with entrance wide open, 

 and inside made ready for a swarm, 

 are much more likely to be occupied 

 voluntarily by a swarm, if placed up on 

 a high stand than if left down in the 

 grass. But the fact that even when 

 left in the grass hives are often entered 

 by swarms, is a very good evidence of 

 their powerful sight. 



When you open a hive of bees, if you 

 are careful not to disturb them too 

 much, you will need but little smoke. 

 Then after the combs are uncovered, 

 some of the old bees come to the top 

 to ascertain whence comes the light so 

 extraordinarily given. Make a quick 

 motion and dozens of them will jump 

 at you, resenting the action. Or if two 

 persons stand in front of a hive and 

 the guards become irritated, they fly 

 at the person who makes a quick mo- 

 tion, regarding him as a dangerous 

 enemy, while they leave unmolested 

 the quiet spectator. Should the two 

 ears of a horse appear over the hedge 

 or the fence 40 feet away, when they 

 are in this irritated condition, and 

 should the horse shake them at flies, 

 they will at once pounce upon those 

 ears. 



Endless instances could be given of 

 the excellent sight of bees at long or 

 short range. It seems to me that we 

 must acknowledge that few living be- 

 ings are so well provided in this line 

 as is the honey-bee. 



The drones, as it appears, have a still 

 greater number of facets to their com- 

 pound eyes than the workers. An ap- 

 proximate number of some 1^6,000 facets 

 have been counted in the eyes of a 

 drone. Think of 26,000 organs of sight 

 in a single living being ! Can we have 

 an adequate conception of what this 

 means ? .And to what purpose ? For 

 the pursuit of the queen, evidently. 

 The queen's life is very important to 

 the colony. She goes out to mate, and 

 if she is lost the colony is often help- 

 less. So she must mate promptly. That 

 is why so many drones are reared, and 

 why they have such powerful organs of 

 vision, the strength of which is plainly 

 beyond the powers of our imagination 

 to realize. 



That there is a middle point between 

 day vision with the compound eyes and 

 night vision with the ocelli, where the 

 bees are partially blinded, does not, 

 however, admit of a doubt. Working 



