1905 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



707 



GiEANiNCSFROM THE Pacific Coast 



By Prof. A.J.Cook. Pomona Colueoe. Cal. 



THE bee's pocket HANDKERCHIEF. 



In the previous issue of Gleanings I dis- 

 cussed the stomach mouth. We saw how 

 interesting was the action of this little or- 

 gan, and how effective in removing pollen 

 from honey. To-day I am to consider the nose 

 and pocket handkerchief of the bee. I hope, 

 Mr. Editor, this will not trouble you, in that 

 you will think you ought to put a new sub- 

 ject in the A B C, as I am sure one would 

 look in vain for either nose or pocket hand- 

 kerchief in your admirable work which is 

 really almost cyclopedic. While I presume 

 the eyes of the bee aid them in their quest 

 in field in forest, yet I have reason to be- 

 lieve that the eyes are not very sensitive. 

 Without doubt, smell is much more to the 

 purpose in guiding the bees to the nectar. 

 It is probable, also, that the drones are 

 quickly guided to the queen as she flies forth 

 to mate, by this same sense. And w^here is 

 the nose? There can be no doubt that it lies 

 in the antennae. We might say, then, that 

 the bee has two noses, and so does not dif- 

 fer greatly from higher animals, as even we 

 have two olfactory openings which are ab- 

 solutely separate. The mechanism of these 

 olfactory organs in bees is easily studied by 

 the use of the microscope. We find, upon 

 close examination, that there are many lit- 

 tle pits in the antennee of insects; and in 

 those insects where the sense of smell is 

 very necessary, and thus supposedly very 

 acute, as in the case of bees and moths, 

 there may be a thousand of these little pits. 

 These pits are lined with a very delicate 

 membrane, which is evidently the scent 

 membrane. At the bottom of these pits are 

 little pegs, which, of course, increase the 

 spread of membrane. Thus each of these 

 little pits, tubes, or wells closely resembles 

 a common form of glass bottle which must 

 be familiar to all our readers. 



In such bottles the bottom is pushed up so 

 that there is a hole or concavity at the bot- 

 tom on the outside. The drones and male 

 moths have many more of these scent-cells 

 than do the others. This accounts for the 

 fact that a female moth just from the co- 

 coon often attracts scores of males into a 

 room, although the window may be up hard- 

 ly at all. That these antennae are scent- 

 organs is clearly proved by the fact that the 

 blow-fly, when these are cut off, can not find 

 the meat. Many like experiments leave no 

 room for doubt. Once proved that the an- 

 tennae are scent-organs, there can no longer 

 be doubt that the numerous pores, or pits, 

 each with its pegs at the bottom, are really 

 the organs of this special sense. Thus, as 

 we now understand where the nose or noses 

 of the bee are located, it is next in order to 



examine how this organ is kept clean, or 

 where the pocket handkerchief is, that the 

 bee must use to keep its scent organs in 

 perfect order. We can easily see how the 

 bee, diving into the flower-tube, would get 

 its antennae smeared with pollen, and so 

 how its sense of smell would become dulled. 

 Surely no animal would stand more in need 

 of a pocket handkerchief. 



THE ANTENNA-CLEANER. 



The antennse-cleaner on the front leg of 

 nearly all hymenopterous insects (wasps, 

 bees, etc.) is a strangely interesting appa- 

 ratus. It is really in part a half-circle or 

 half-cylinder, situated in the basal tarsus, 

 and lined with very delicate hairs. This 

 groove is just large enough to hold the an- 

 tennae. Shutting over this is the tibial 

 spur, which is hinged, and, on the side next 

 the groove, consists of very delicate mem- 

 brane, softer than the finest chamois skin. 



Let us now study the cleaning process. 

 Those curious to see just how it is done have 

 only to put a bee on the window, dust its 

 antennae with chalk or flour, and watch it 

 with a good hand lens. The soiled antenna 

 is pushed into the groove, pressed down by 

 the spur, and drawn out. Of course, all 

 pollen and dust are removed, and we may 

 say the nose is wiped. But we must re- 

 member that this pollen is bread to the bees, 

 and must not be wasted. If we examine 

 the tarsi of the middle legs (by ' ' tarsi ' ' we 

 mean the five last joints or pieces of the 

 legs) we shall find, on the inside, brushes of 

 hairs. After the antennae-cleaner is used, it 

 in turn is drawn between these brushes of 

 the middle legs, which, in turn, receive the 

 pollen. These are then wiped off on the 

 corbicula, or pollen-basket, of the hind legs. 

 So the pollen goes from antennae to all the 

 legs successively till it reaches the pollen- 

 basket of the hind legs, where, with other 

 pollen combed from hairs of the body, it is 

 packed and carried to the hive. 



The mud- wasps have a similar apparatus, 

 as do most insects of the order Hymenopte- 

 ra. In the case of mud-wasps, as they are 

 delving in the dust for mud their antennae 

 become soiled with dust— a useless material. 

 They remove it as did the bee the pollen; 

 but it is no longer of use, and their only de- 

 sire is to clean the antennae-cleaner. Those 

 of us who remember our sticky fingers in 

 the candy days will know just how the wasp 

 performs. She opens her mouth, passes the 

 antennae-cleaner between her lips, wipes off 

 the dust, and then spits it forth, for it is dirt. 



FUNGI AND BACTERIA. 



California is no exception among the States 

 of the country in being very much interest- 

 ed practically in two very serious plant dis- 

 eases. As both of these diseases affect the 

 bee-keeper, surely our readers will be glad 

 to know something of them. I refer to the 

 asparagus-rust fungus and to pear-blight. 

 The former disease has destroyed very valu- 

 able property east as well as in California in 

 the last few years. While the pear-blight 



