Gleanings in Bee Culture 



the mouth, flows up over the upper lip (la- 

 brum), and fills the space between the man- 

 dibles. When the bee has emptied her sac 

 she backs out of the cell, wipes off her face, 

 antennae, and tongue, stretches and plumes 

 herself, and, likely as not, crawls*into some 

 cell or hangs in some quiet corner for a nap. 

 Thus she may stay for a few minutes or for 

 half a day. Busy little bee! 



If the load is to be deposited in a cell al- 

 ready containing more or less honey the 

 procedure is the same, except that mandibles 

 and mouth parts are submerged in the hon- 

 ey in the cell. No matter how far the hon- 

 ey may lie out on the floor of the cell, the 

 bee never gets her face in it, but tips her 

 head out until it looks as if it would part 

 from the thorax. In all the depositing of 

 honey or nectar the tongue is never used, 

 but is kept folded behind the head. 



So far as it has been possible to determine, 

 the nectar-laden bee never yields any of it 

 to the other bees. This statement applies 

 to times of plenty; for when the colony is 

 on the verge of starvation the home bees do 

 sometimes obtain food directly from the re- 

 turning worker. If they do it at one time 

 they may at another; but certainly such is 

 not the common way when honey is being 

 freely gathered. 



At night the ripening process, which dur- 

 ing the day receives little attention, becomes 

 the work of a very large part of the bees. 

 Over all vertical surfaces the bees spread in 

 single layers, and each bee appears to have 

 plenty of elbow room. Every honey-treat- 

 ing bee hangs vertically with head up. The 

 mandibles are spread, the mouih opens, and 

 a drop of nectar appears, increasing in size 

 until it fills the mouth, flows up over the 

 upper lip (labrum), and fills the space be- 

 tween the mandibles. Then what, for con- 

 venience, we will here call the lower jaw 

 (labium) begins to move with a chewing- 

 like motion, and this causes the exposed 

 drop of honey to "pulsate." Slowly and 

 steadily this is done, the bee sometimes 

 continuing it with one drop for ten, twelve, 

 or even more minutes; then there is a pause, 

 the drop is swallowed, and the bee rests for 

 a few seconds; then another drop appears, 

 and the process is repeated. The volume of 

 the exposed drop is somewhat less than the 

 capacity of the honey-sac — estimated at a 

 quarter to a third less. 



Each individual bee continues her work 

 until seemingly the nectar is so changed 

 that it ceases to excite the nerves. When 

 this stiige is reached she generally deposits 

 her load in a cell and goes to sleep, although 

 sometimes she may take another sacful from 

 some cell and resume her labors. Just what 

 the age is of the bees doing this work has 

 not yet been determined; but so many bees 

 work at it that it seems as if bees of almost 

 all ages take part. 



When the bees have not room to store 

 their loads after treating them they must 

 needs keep them, and it is then that they 

 secrete wax freely. The very process of " ri- 

 pening "seems to cause the production of 



much wax; but if the bee> have to hold their 

 loads the amount produced seems much 

 greater. Perhaps it is not so much more as 

 it seems. 



That the ripening process is accompanied 

 by wax production is easily proved by the 

 following experiment: Feed a colony with 

 thoroughly ripened honey diluted with 

 about one-third its bulk of water. The bees 

 will store and thicken this, but will not pro- 

 duce much wax — very little, in fact, unless 

 they are getting some nectar at the same 

 time. Feed another colony a syrup made of 

 equal parts of granulated sugar and water, 

 or, for more pronounced results, use more 

 sugar. This colony will produce a lot of 

 wax — so much, in fact, that if the experi- 

 ment is continued for four or five days the 

 new wax will be found stuck all over combs, 

 frames, hive-sides, etc. 



At the time the two colonies are being 

 thus treated, two more should be allowed 

 only what food they get from the fields, and 

 these colonies used as "checks," i. e., colo- 

 nies under normal conditions to compare 

 the other two with. 



The colony continues its ripening labors 

 until about 11 p.m., sometimes a little later, 

 occasionally as late as 1 a.m. The cause of 

 the variation is unknown. All during this 

 work the colony keeps up the deep hum, so 

 well known and so welcome to bee-keepers. 

 The cause of the humming is not determin- 

 ed. It does not seem as if the proportionate- 

 ly few bees fanning could cause it all. 



An examination of the bees doing the 

 ventilating is interesting, for the volume of 

 air they drive from the entrance seems out 

 of all proportion to the number of bees do- 

 ing that work. 



Most of such fanning is done at or near 

 the entrance, and not by masses of bees all 

 through the hive, as commonly supposed. 

 There are occasions when fanning is done 

 all through the hive, as when the heat is 

 very great or when the hive is deluged with 

 smoke; but these are not normal condition^:. 



The attention of students of the grand 

 functions of the bees is called to the oppor- 

 tunity aflforded for the secretions of the 

 glands opening on the mandibles to mix 

 with the nectar. 



Providence, R. I. 



[The statement has been repeatedly made 

 that the ordinary bees on returning from 

 the field, laden with nectar, do not deposit 

 their loads directly in the cells, but pass 

 them along to young bees in the hive, not 

 old enough to go to the field; that these lat- 

 ter, in turn, deposit nectar in the cells, and 

 then return to unload other worker bees that 

 have come from the field. 



Busy as a bee! It is popularly supposed 

 that the bee works incessantly if we except 

 the hanging-out in front on a very warm 

 day when the entrance is contracted too 

 much. This is a very interesting field for 

 study and observation. If any of our read- 

 ers have a story to tell different from that 

 presented by Mr. Miller, we hope they will 

 tell us what they have really seen. — Ed.] 



