ECOLOGICAL 323 



young queens survive the winter. In natural conditions some of 

 the stored honey in the hive goes to meet everyday demands before 

 winter comes, but there is a large surplus that makes a permanent 

 wintering community possible. The honey in the honeycomb is 

 perhaps the most beautiful form of wealth in the world — it means 

 stored energy, bottled sunshine. The hive illustrates the value of 

 capital as well as labour. 



The sheets of honeycomb hang vertically in the hive, and the 

 hexagonal cells are arranged on the two sides, with their bases 

 towards one another. They are not quite horizontal, but tipped 

 a little upwards, so that the viscous honey does not so readily 

 stream out. But there is another reason for the retention of the 

 honey — it becomes gradually thicker by the evaporation of water- 

 vapour. Thus nectar with 60 per cent, of water may become honey 

 with 20 per cent. Of course some nectars, like that of the Fuchsia, 

 are very dense to start with. An interesting point in regard to the 

 ripening of honey in the comb, where the changing of cane-sugar 

 into grape-sugar continues, is that it is helped by the ventilation 

 of the hive. Some of the bees fan with their wings, and this serves 

 not only to keep the hive from getting stuffy, but also to drive 

 away water- vapour and thus ripen the honey in the honeycomb. 



Bees are not the only creatures that appreciate the nectar of 

 flowers. Some of the ants become animated honeypots, hanging, 

 when they are full, from the roof of their house like bunches of 

 yellow grapes! Some birds, like the hummers and the honey- 

 birds, are very fond of the more fluid kinds of nectar; and an 

 occasional sweet-toothed wasp may point the way that the bees 

 followed when they ceased to be carnivorous and became pre- 

 dominantly honey-eaters. For it seems practically certain that 

 bees evolved from a primitive wasp stock. This was a notable 

 parting of the ways, when the bees became refinedly vegetarian 

 and the wasps remained predominantly carnivorous. Notable, 

 because flesh does not store ! 



Fauna of Pitcher-plants. — Prof. R. W. Hegner has investi- 

 gated the animals that live inside the Sarracenia pitcher-plant of 

 Maine. In the ten pitchers examined there were Protozoa, repre- 

 senting the three chief groups — Rhizopods, Infusorians, and Sporo- 

 zoa. It is probable that most of these Protozoa are species carried 

 in by the flies which pay fatal visits to the pitchers. It is possible, 

 however, that some of the Protozoa are at home in the strange 

 environment, and it was found that several Infusorians like Para- 

 mecium could thrive and multiply when placed in the fluid which 

 the pitchers contain. In addition to the Protozoa there was an 

 abundant representation of insect larvae, mites, and rotifers. In a 

 few cases there were minute water-fleas and some threadworms. 



