BEE 



647 



BEE 



EE. Almost anyone hearing the 

 word bee thinks instantly of just two species 

 the honeybee, Isaac Watts' "little busy bee" 

 'improves each shining hour," or Emer- 

 son's "burly, dozing bumblebee," the "ani- 

 mated torrid zone." For these two are most 

 commonly seen and heard in the gardens and 

 doverfields of summer, and it is the former 

 that supplies man with one of his most popu- 

 lar luxuries. But these two species make up 

 a very small part of the great group of insects 

 known as bees a group which ranks as the 

 highest of the insects (unless the ants are thus 

 considered) and is as interesting as any of 

 the forms of higher life. Authorities declare 

 that there are about 5,000 species of bees, 

 some of them small and insignificant, some so 

 like flies or wasps that they are almost un- 



-mzahle; hut all possessed of an intelli- 

 gence*, an ingenuity that seems incredible in 

 such small creatures. Most of these kinds of 

 bees live a solitary and not a social communal 

 lnV like that of the honeybee and bumblebees. 

 i that is told of bees sounds like tin- mer- 

 est "nature-faking," but it has back of it real 



vledge, based on generations of study. 

 Care must always be taken, however, as in 



study of any form of animal life, not to 

 impute the motives and reasoning powers -of 

 human beings to these creatures of lower on I. r 

 Much that seems like the n-sult ,f calculated 

 intelligence is in reality inherited and unrea- 

 son i in- 

 Distinguishing Characteristics. With the 

 ants and wasps, bees belong to the great < 



Membrane-winced insects, known to M 

 tilts as the flym I.a< h member of 



this order unless it be of the wingless species 

 like some ants has four wings, and a bee 

 may be by tl uifallil.lv diMinnuiahed 



from any of the two-uim-- d. hee-mnm 

 flies. Bees themselves differ from all < 



Inane-wings by having feathery hairs on 

 the head and th<>ra\. thick, ned hind feet, and 

 mouth parts so modified that nectar m.v 

 gat 1 1 i the flowers. It is this charao- 



teri>tic which has given rise to the division of 

 all bees into two groups the short-tongued 

 bees, which can find their food only in the 

 shallow, open flowers, and the long-tongued 

 hich can penetrate to the bottom of the 

 deepest tubular blossoms. There are also other 

 interesting adaptations of organs to special 

 use. In some bees, which burrow into the 

 ground or into wood, the jaws have grown 

 into sharp, digging tools, while in others the 

 jaws form a sort of spoon wherewith wax may 

 be moulded. 



The eyes of bees are large and compound 

 that is, made up of hundreds and hundreds 

 of little eyes; and it is probable that no insect 

 ! Ler sight. The wonderful ability to re- 

 turn to the home spot from a far-distant place, 

 d so unswervingly that "a bee line" 

 }\:(< Income proverbial for the shortest dis- 

 tance between two points, seems to depend 

 not so much on a sense of direction, as in birds. 

 but on a keen sense of sight. It seems pos- 

 sible that bees can distinguish colors, too, as 

 to show a preference for certain 

 colored flowers. Their antennae, which they 

 use as "feelers" and as a means of communi- 

 cating with each other, are probably 

 organ of smell as well, but just where their 

 "ears" or hearing organs are located cannot be 

 ined. That t hey can hear seems certain, 



What Bees Eat. A bee will feed upon 



if it can get no* hum else, but 

 it far ! B dainty, perfum-d nectar of 



n MUM bees showing an especial lik- 

 ing for certain Mown-- And \\li.-n bees want 

 re they are very deter- 

 mined efforts to get it. If a flower 

 in too narrow to allow icm entrance they use 

 their ntn.ng cutting y.\m to open a w > 

 themselves. Nor is hopy the only thing bees 



in flowers, ytfe young, \\hidi 

 hi tie hr,-s, hut tin/grub*, or larvae, are not 

 fed on i bread," which is but 



: -visiting bees carry home 

 on their thighs. This they roll into a c<>: 





