832 



XMEP M'mmmicmm mmm j@i^Mifaju. 



ta>>o«i>>«>*oj 



stream of honey from the tongue enters the 

 mouth. This honey must be digested while 

 in transit from flower to hive. 



The fact that a colony of bees may gather 

 20 pounds of honey in a day, explains the 

 necessity of the great size and number of 

 these glands. The fact that all honey is 

 not equally reduced, and that some honey 

 has even a right-handed rotation, is also ex- 

 plained. When honey is collected very 

 rapidly, as is often true in the linden sea- 

 son, it is not fully digested. This makes 

 the analysis of honey a difl3cult matter. I 

 much question whether any chemist can 

 certainly determine whether or not honey 

 is pure. I positively know that some of our 

 best chemists have pronounced honey of 

 undoubted purity, to be adulterated. To 

 one acquainted with the physiology and 

 habits of bees, this is not surprising. 



The honey-stomach is a strongly muscu- 

 lar organ, richly lined with epithelial cells, 

 and in no wise peculiar, except for the in- 

 teresting and complex stomach mouth at 

 its lower end. This is a slightly oblong, 

 nearly spherical organ, with a central pas- 

 sage. The four segments which comprise 

 the anterior end are jaw-like, slightly mov- 

 able, and have a peculiarly snapping mo- 

 tion, as is easily seen by viewing a fresh 

 specimen under a low power objective. — 

 Short bristle-like hairs form a thick lining 

 to the central cavity. These hairs point 

 downward. 



The function of this unique organ is as 

 interesting as its structure. The fine pol- 

 len-grains of flowers, as you all know, are 

 light and airy, and so float in every breeze. 

 As they fall from the overhanging anthers, 

 they often lodge in the same nectar that at- 

 tracts the bees. Thus as the bee sucks the 

 nectar from the flowers, it secures at the 

 same time more or less of this rich nitro- 

 genous pollen. The pollen and nectar pass 

 together into the honey-stomach. When the 

 bee reaches its brood-nest, it desires to pass 

 the honey — for by this time the nectar has 

 been digested — into the cells, where it is 

 stored for the future needs of the bees. 

 But while we find a small amount of pollen 

 in the honey, we find much less tlian is 

 found in the nectar. But how can the bees 

 separate this pollen from the nectar? It is 

 done liy this stomach-mouth, the jaws of 

 which are constantly opening and shutting 

 as the bee is gathering from flower to 

 flower, and is bearing its full load to the 

 hive. Thus the mixed nectar and pollen 

 are drawn into the central cavity of the 

 stomach-mouth, when the jaws close, press- 

 ing the nectar back into the honey -stomach, 

 while the pollen is retained by the bristles, 

 and passed into the true stomach. This 

 constant motion also mixes thoroughly the 

 nectar and saliva, thus promoting the diges- 

 tion of the nectar or the formation of the 

 honey. 



We see, then, that the stomach-mouth is 

 a sort of screen, whose purpose is to sep- 

 arate the nitrogenous from the carbonace- 

 ous food. The former is in small quanti- 

 ties, just sufficient for the daily needs, 

 while the honey comes in large quantities, 

 and is stored up for times of scarcity. 



Where the stomach-mouth enters the true 

 stomach, the central opening is continued 

 in a free membranous tube which hangs in 

 the true stomach. This, of course, serves 

 as a valve, and prevents the digested ma- 

 terial (as it is pressed by the muscular ac- 

 tion of the stomach), from returning 

 through the stomach-mouth into the honey- 

 stomach. 



It is now a well-known fact that the nurse- 

 bees digest the food for the larvae, the 

 queen, and the drones. It is probably true 

 that all the albuminous food of both queen 

 and drone is prepared by the nurse-bees. 



The upper head-glands are not found in 

 the drones,and are very rudimentary in the 

 queen. Thus these bees are not able to 



take and digest pollen. They can take the 

 honey, and so have the racemose glands, 

 which, in case the nectar was not fully 

 digested by the worker-bees, enables the 

 queen and drone to complete the digestion. 

 Thus the queen, during the active season, 

 while she is often laying 2,000 or 3,000 

 eggs daily, receives her food all prepared 

 for absorption, and so we understand how 

 it is that the queen may lay nearly twice 

 her weight of eggs daily. I have weighed 

 laying queens several times, and find them 

 to weigh about .23 of a gi'amm, or about 

 35 grains. I have found that 3,000 eggs 

 weigh about .4 of a gramm, or about 60 

 grains. This wondrous performance is only 

 possible, in that the queen's food is wholly 

 digested for her by the nurse-bees. 



The nature of the food given by the 

 nurse-bees to the brood, and to the queen 

 and drones, has been much discussed. 

 Dufour thought that it was chyle, or food 

 fully digested and ready for absorption. 

 Schiemenz argues that it is the secretion 

 from the upper head-glands. Schonfeld be- 

 lieves that Dufour was correct — digested 

 pollen with additions of honey. 



Schiemenz thinks that the valve that 

 reaches from the stomach-mouth into the 

 true stomach, would make it impossible for 

 the bee to regurgitate any food which had 

 really entered the true stomach, and so 

 argues, despite the location of the mouths 

 of these ducts, and the necessity of saliva 

 for the liquification of the pollen, that the 

 jelly or larval food is really the product of 

 the upper head-glands. From several ex- 

 periments which I have tried, I believe 

 Schonfeld and Dufour are correct, and 

 Schiemenz in error. One experiment which 

 in itself seems crucial, I will explain : 



I removed from a small colony of bees all 

 the honey, gave them a frame of brood, and 

 shut them in their hive. I then mixed 

 some finely-pulverized charcoal with some 

 diluted sugar syrup, and fed it to these 

 bees. As the charcoal is insoluble and in- 

 digestible, of course it cannot and does not 

 pass through the walls of the stomach into 

 the blood, and so cannot ever pass to the 

 glands. Even if it were in the blood, it 

 could not enter into secretion, as it is in 

 non-osmotic, and so could not appear in the 

 saliva. Yet this charcoal appears in the 

 food given to the larvae. This food then 

 cannot be a secretion, but must be the chyle 

 or digested food of the nurse-bees. 



That the strongly muscular structure of 

 the alimentary tract, may draw the stom- 

 ach-mouth up to the oesophagus, and thus 

 draw the valve up so that its valuvlar na- 

 ture is destroyed, is the view of Schonfeld, 

 and is, I believe, correct. This is then a 

 sort of adjustaVile valve, and may prevent 

 regurgitation or not, as the function of the 

 bees require. Thus we have in the stomach- 

 mouth, as well as in the tongue of the 

 honey-bee, examples of differentiation 

 which are not surpassed anywhere in the 

 organic world. A. J. Cook. 



Prof. Cook's essay was discussed as 

 follows : 



S. Cornell — Have you ever examined 

 wax to .see the amount of pollen which 

 it contained ? 



Prof. Cook — Yes, I know it contains 

 pollen. 



S. Corneil — You say that j'ou are 

 wintering bees on wooden-combs, as 

 an experiment, to prove that they can 

 wintei- without pollen. You know that 

 combs have been dipped in wax, and 

 wax contains pollen, hence your ex- 

 periment will be imperfect, even 

 though the amount of pollen be in- 

 finitesimal. 



Prof. Cook— That is true. I tell you 

 that we must be very careful, I see. 



S. Corneil — I have had the eggs of 

 the bee-moth's larvse hatch in comb 

 foundation, and bore tunnels between 

 the sheets. There must be pollen in 

 the wax, or this could never have 

 happened. 



C. P. Dadant — I think that there is 

 little pollen wax. It is true that there 

 is a residue every time wax is melted, 

 but this residue is usually wax reduced 

 to this pecular condition by the action 

 of the hot water. 



S. Corneil — This residue comes about 

 as the action of hard water. When 

 soft water is used, such trouble is 

 avoided. 



C. P. Dadant — We have rendered 

 wax with steam, yet we had the same 

 trouble. 



R. McKnight asked how long a bee 

 could subsist upon its sacful of honey. 



Prof. Cook said that circumstances 

 were so varied that it would be impos- 

 sible to give a definite answer. 



C, P. Dadant objected to the use of 

 the term " digested nectar," or " par- 

 tially^-digested nectar," as applied to 

 honey, because the honey is not really 

 assimilated. 



Prof Cook maintained, and was sup- 

 ported bj' S. Corneil, that honej' is in 

 reality " digested nectar ;" that it is in 

 a condition to be assimilated without 

 undergoing any change, or at least but 

 slight change, in the true stomach. 

 There are foods that are really " di- 

 gested," or nearly so, that is, they are 

 ready for assimilation. Honey is one 

 of the foods ; it is largely absorbed 

 directly from the stomach into the 

 system. 



Dr. Harvey said that, in this matter, 

 people were coniounding digestio?i with 

 assimilation. There is primary diges- 

 tion, and secondary digestion. The 

 first is the preparation of tlie food for 

 assimilation, and the second is assimi- 

 lation. The process that nectar under- 

 goes is that of primary digestion, 



R. McKnight said that, if honey un- 

 dergoes any further change in the true 

 stomach, then it is " partially-digested 

 nectar ;" if it undergoes no cliange, 

 then it is "digested nectar." He looked 

 upon the whole matter as unimportant, 

 and one that would soon be forgotten. 



It was voted that, inasmuch as it 

 has come to the knowledge of the As- 

 sociation that a member sold a crate 

 of honey to a hotel in Brantford, dur- 

 ing the meeting, the outside sections 

 of which were good white honey, and 

 the inner sections inferior, dark, buck- 

 wheat honey, the whole being sold as 

 a prime article, the Association desires 

 to place on record its condemnation of 

 all such transactions as essentially dis- 

 honest, and calculated to bring bee- 

 keeping into disrepute. 



