BEES 



581 



for extracting nectar from the flowers, 

 peculiar sliajied legs for carrying pollen 

 to be worked into cells or bee-bread, and 

 have only rudimentary generative or- 

 gans. They construct the interior of the 

 cells, explore the country in search of 

 food and honey, supply the queen, defend 

 the hive, and carry on hostilities against 

 enemies and depredators. The number of 

 workers is much larger than that of the 

 drones, generally not more than one in 

 30 or 40 is a drone or male, while there 

 is only one developed female or queen. 

 The workers do not present distinctly 

 marked female organs, yet it is now un- 

 derstood that the workers are undevel- 

 oped females, and that any worker if 

 taken in the early stages of its develop- 

 ment and fed on the proper food can be 

 developed into a queen with all of the 

 sex organs perfect. 



How tlie Bee Stings 



The sting consists of a finely pointed 

 tubular instrument open along the whole 

 length of its upper surface. This open- 

 ing is closed by two horny slender barbs, 

 each having about 10 serrations or 

 notches in its outer edge. These barbs 

 are not projected in advance of the sting 

 as is sometimes supposed, but complete 

 its outer tubular surface down the center 

 of which the poison is injected from a 

 little bag at the root of the sting. The 

 serrations prevent the bee from with- 

 drawing its sting from its enemy, but it 

 is torn from the body with a portion of 

 the intestines, causing the death of the 

 bee. The poison poured into the wound 

 from the sting contains certain pungent 

 salts to which it owes its mischievous 

 tendency. 



How They Ventilate the Hive 



Crowded into a small space in a box 

 not more than 12 inches square, often 

 with several thousand bees, the air would 

 naturally become foul, and death would 

 result were there not some system of ven- 

 tilation. These little creatures cannot 

 live in a foul atmosphere any more than 

 could animals of larger size, yet so per- 

 fect is their system of ventilation that 

 the air of the hive is little different from 

 the surrounding atmosphere on the out- 



side of the hive. This ventilation is 

 effected by the vibration of the wings of 

 a certain number of bees that fasten their 

 feet to the floor of the hive and imitate 

 the action of flying. The vibration of 

 their wings drives the air out of the hive 

 with a current of considerable force, and 

 the fresh air coming in to fill up the 

 vacuum purifies the atmosphere. These 

 bees continue their motions for from 20 

 minutes to half an hour, when others 

 take their places to be again relieved by 

 others. This is the occasion of that hum- 

 ming sound heard in the hive when the 

 bees are in a state of activity. The im- 

 mediate cause of the action of ventila- 

 tion is supposed to be the impression 

 made on the organs or the nervous sys- 

 tem by the vitiated air, for a bee can be 

 made to ventilate itself outside the hive 

 if it Is brought into contact with sub- 

 stances that have to it an unpleasant 

 odor. 



The Bees and the Orchard 



Anyone who has studied the subject of 

 the pollenization of flowers, and who 

 knows the important work performed by 

 insects, especially by bees, in fertilizing 

 the orchards, causing the process of ger- 

 mination and the production of fruit, will 

 know that bees are of exceeding impor- 

 tance in fruit growing. 



Any student of botany understands that 

 flowers are sexual, and that in order to 

 produce seed or fruit the pollen from the 

 male must be conveyed in some manner 

 to the stigma of the female, and that by 

 the union of the two the process germi- 

 nation begins. But how is this effected? 

 Flowers are fastened by their stems to 

 the limbs on which they grow and cannot 

 mate as do insects and animals. The only 

 possible method, therefore, by which fer- 

 tilization takes place is that of conveying 

 the pollen grain from the one to the 

 stigma of the other. 



There are two classes of flowers, those 

 that are self-pollinating and those that 

 must be cross-pollinated. The self-pollin- 

 ating flower produces its own pollen, 

 while the cross-pollinating flower must 

 receive the pollen from others, and gen- 

 erally from other trees or plants. There 



