FEBKUARY 15, 1915 



Conversations with Doolittle 



An BorocrlSinicDo New Y<n)rk. 



I'Ol.LEX AXD PROPOLIS. 



"Mr. Doolittle, I read in Glean- 

 ings soinetliing: about bees reqiiir- 

 iiig pollen in order tliat they might 

 1 lirive. What is pollen ? " 



'* Pollen is the farina or fertiliz- 

 iiiii' dust from plants and trees nec- 

 essary for the perfect fruiting' of each sep- 

 arate species. This dust is finer than any 

 miller can produce. "When the season is 

 late, or pollen is scarce in our locality, bees 

 will take Hour, meal, or finely ground oats 

 in lieu thereof. In many localities bees are 

 thus fed in the spring till the pollen-bearing 

 tlowers open." 



'' How do bees gather any thing so fine? " 



'* Tf you will examine with a lens one of 

 the hind legs of a worker bee you will find 

 that the stoutest joint is very square-shoul- 

 dered at the hinge, and that this hinge is 

 well over toward the side of the leg. away 

 from the body of the bee. These shoulders 

 form a ])aii' of jaws, as it were, which open 

 when the leg is bent and close when it is 

 straightened. The upper jaw has a row of 

 spines wiiicli strike on a plate on the lower 

 jaw. and thus the bee can use force enough 

 to hold and manipulate things to an extent 

 whicli setMus quite marvelous. In the gath- 

 ering of pollen these shoulders or jaws are 

 called " iiollen-baskels " because they are 

 used for holding the pollen as it is gathered. 

 And the bees often heap these ba.skets full 

 to overflowing with the loads they bring in 

 from elm. hard maple, and other flowers 

 which are abundant pollen-producers." 



" And that is what the bees are carrying 

 when they go running in the hives with 

 * yellow leg's.' Years ago I heai'd it said 

 that such loads were wax; but I always 

 doubted it." 



" Wax is not gathered, as it is not an 

 extraneous substance which needs only to 

 be collected for use." 



" But how does the bee cause such minute 

 particles of pollen-dust to stav in those 

 ba.skets?" 



'• 1 do not know that I can answer that 

 question ; but from what I could observe by 

 lying down clo.se to a feeder having finely 

 ground oats in it my conclusions were that 

 the bee, when going out in quest of pollen, 

 always took along a little honey in its hon- 

 ey-sac, unless pollen was being gathered 

 from flowers which produced both pollen 

 and nectar. After the bee had rolled about 

 in the flour and taken wing, she seemed to 



louch her front feet to lier mouth, then rub 

 them about on her dusty body, when the 

 dust which adhered to those feet was trans- 

 ferred back to the next pair of feet, when 

 these in turn were drawn, or partially so, 

 tlirough between the spines and joints spok- 

 en of before, which left tlie now moistened 

 jwllen adhering to the pollen-baskets. And 

 thus, by a series of extremely rapid motions, 

 the baskets would be seen to become fuller 

 after each dip and roll-over the bee would 

 take in the oat flour. I have seen this man- 

 ipulation of pollen nearly or quite as well 

 when the bees were at woi'k on the dande- 

 lion. But to get any thing like a correct 

 view the head must be lowered so the bee 

 will be between the eye and the sky." 



" And what is the pollen used for ? " 



" It is taken by the nurse bees, together 

 with honey and water, and, by a sort of 

 individual home manufacture, formed into 

 chyle (similar to that used by the mother 

 pigeon in preparing the ' milk ' with which 

 she feeds her young), wlien it is fed to the 

 lan-fe, on which they thrive. No larvae can 

 be matured without pollen, or something as 

 a substitute. Bees gather only one kind of 

 pollen at a time. While different bees may 

 carry in several colors at the same time, the 

 pellets on any one bee will be all alike." 



" Now a few words about propolis. Is 

 that gathered from flowei's? " 



" No. So far as I know, nothing in the 

 floral line, after opening, gives off propolis. 

 The milkweed flowers are somewhat sticky, 

 and from their peculiar shape often trap the 

 liees which work on them, and hold them 

 fast till they die; but T have never detected 

 bees at work gathering propolis from these 

 flowers. It comes mainly from resinous 

 buds just before they expand, or from the 

 buds which are forming for the next year's 

 u'l'owth — mostly from the buds of the balm- 

 of-gilead, in this locality, during August. 

 In the spring they will often be seen col- 

 lecting it from old hives left standing in the 

 sun, so that it becomes again soft enough 

 for manipulation." 



"What use do Iho bees make of such 

 sticky material?" 



" It is mostly used for coating uneven 

 surfaces, and filling up cracks about the 

 inside of the hives or whatever their home 

 may be. It is also u.sed in hermetically seal- 

 ing up any offensive matter that may be too 

 burdensome for them to remove." 



