122 



KNOWLEDGE 



[June 1, 1894. 



Again, at the beginning of a new hive, the bees seldom 

 bi-ought in any spoil on their legs for two or three 

 days, although cells were in course of construction all the 

 time ; and lastly, in wet weather, when the bees do not go 

 out, yet much new comb was formed. It thus came to be 

 seen that wax was not to be thought of as a gathered 

 substance, but as a true secretion, and subsequently some 

 careful series of experiments by various observers revealed 

 the fact that it was produced as a result of the digestion 

 of honey. But though honey is the essential ingredient, 

 a little pollen eaten in addition considerably increases the 

 yield. Thus Gundelach showed that it required seventeen 

 pounds of honey alone to produce one pound of wax, while 

 when honey and pollen were both eaten only ten pounds 

 were required for one pound of wax. In Tegetmeier's 

 experiments, from twelve to fifteen pounds of dry sugar 

 were consumed by a hive of bees in producing one pound 

 of wax. These figm'es serve to show what an enormous 

 amount of the nectar of flowers needs to be collected for 

 wax construction alone, apart from what may be used as 

 food, and sufficiently explain the unflagging industry of 

 working bees. 



Let us now follow a bee throughout those operations 

 which result in the secretion of wax. The construction 

 of the comb must be one of the first operations carried 

 out when a swarm takes possession of new quartei's, and 

 to meet this demand the worker, before passing out with 

 the swarm, will have taken its till of honey. This, whether 

 imbibed direct from flowers or from stores already accu- 

 mulated, must be taken up by means of the complex 

 apparatus to which the name " tongue " is usually given. 

 The whole tongue really consists of several organs fastened 

 together, as will be seen from the accompanying photo- 

 graph (Plate 1). The central piece, transversely ridged and 

 beset with hairs, is the real tongue, or Unula, It is very 

 flexible and extensile, being moved by special muscles 

 situated in the large dark piece at its base {mentuni.) The 

 pair of organs at the side of the ligula are the labial palpi, 

 each consisting of four joints — two large and two minute. 

 The outermost pair of org;ins are the maxilla?, or secondary 

 jaws. The whole of this apparatus is used in taking liquid 

 food, and while it is being employed the biting jaws, or 

 mandibles, which are not sho^\^l in the photograph, cannot 

 be used, though they have to be called into requisition 

 when anything solid has to be bitten, in which case the 

 "tongue" must be folded back out of the way. The 

 maxillfe and labial palpi close around the ligula and form 

 a channel, within which it can move up and down so as to 

 assist the passage of liquid towards the mouth. 



There has been a great deal of controversy as to the 

 exact method by which this apparatus secures the passage 

 of nectar to the mouth, which, it must be remembered, is 

 situated a considerable distance from the tip of the fully 

 extended tongue. As the whole thing is on a small scale, 

 and therefore needs close watching under a lens, and as 

 the movement of the liquid takes place within a closed 

 space, the evidence is mainly circumstantial, and it is 

 hardly surprising that diii'erent interpretations have been 

 put upon it. At the extreme tip of the tongue is a roimded 

 part, less thickly supplied with fine hairs and called the 

 spoon. When honey is to be taken up, the bee extends 

 its tongue, and bending the tip under, applies the concave 

 surface of the spoon and part of the hairy tongue to the 

 liquid, and moves it quickly backwards and forwards. In 

 consequence the sticky liquid adheres and spreads amongst 

 the hairs, the immense number of which is shown in 

 photograph No. 2 ; the withdrawal of the ligula carries the 

 nectar into the space enclosed between the maxillw and 

 palpi, up which it is drawn partly, no doubt, by the capillarity 



of the small grooves and interstices amongst which it finds 

 itself, and partly by suction. The syrup taken in this way 

 is swallowed into a temporary receptacle or crop at the 

 base of the gullet, which is often called the honey stomach 

 or honey bag. Between this and the true stomach lies a 

 small apparatus called the stomach mouth, which, by open- 

 ing and closing at intervals, acts as a regulator to the 

 passage of the honey into the true digestive cavity. 



The bee whose fortunes we are following having 

 swallowed honey till its crop is completely distended, 

 passes out with the swarm, and partakes in the general 

 movements until the whole tribe is safely housed. Now 

 will come the business of wax secreting, and for this a 

 restful position and a temperature of from 80° to 37° C. is 

 necessary. The latter condition is attained by the bees 

 clustering together, but the former is achieved in a very 

 curious manner. A bee takes up its position at the highest 

 part of the hive, hanging from the roof by her fore legs ; 

 another then clings to this one's hind legs by her fore legs, 

 the pair of hooks with which each is, as usual, provided 

 enabling this to be done with ease. Several others follow 

 suit till a whole chain is produced, all depending directly 

 or indirectly upon the fixity of hold of the originator of 

 the chain. Two chains hanging near together effect a 

 junction by the end bees of each clinging to one another's 

 hind legs, and so festoons of living beings are made, 

 hanging about in all du'ections. In this way all the 

 workers who are to secrete wax hang themselves up and 

 remain in festoons for some twenty-four hours. Mean- 

 while the honey has been gradually passed into the true 



stomach and has been digested, 

 certain cells lying just under- 

 neath the skin of the under 

 surface of the abdominal seg- 

 ments begin to form within 

 themselves a liquid substance, 

 which in due course passes out 

 through the skin by means of 

 a network of minute polygonal 

 openings. Thus a liquid begins 

 to collect on certain white, trans- 

 parent and slightly depressed 

 portions of four of the abdominal 

 segments, one on each side of 

 each segment ; these are arched 

 over by the free edges of the 

 preceding segments, which 

 mould the liquid into a thin 

 plate, and this soon hardens by 

 exposure to the air, appearing 

 as yellowish-white scales. The 



In consequence of this, 



■v» 



Fi&. 4. — Under side of ab- 

 domen of Worker Bee. 

 Part of the plates of the 

 second segment has been 

 removed to show (a) wax- 

 pockets, (i) cut edge of 

 plates. The dotted lines 

 show the position of the 

 removed parts. Magnified 

 five diameters. 



flattened depressions in which 



they lie are called wax-pockets (Fig. 4), and are found 



only in the workers. 



The substance thus secreted and collected in the form 

 of four pairs of thin scales under the abdomen, though 

 containing the essential constituent of wax, is not yet in a 

 proper state to be used for building purposes. It has to 

 be chewed up and mixed with saliva. Our bee, therefore, 

 when its wax scales are all ready, extricates itself from the 

 festoon and goes to the place where building operations 

 are to be commenced. In order to understand what 

 follows, we must look for a moment at the bee's hind legs. 

 Here we find nothing remarkable till we reach the end of 

 the broad tibia or shank. At this point, if we were dealing 

 with any other kind of British bee, we should find on the 

 iMK r side a pair of stout, sharp-pointed spurs, as may be 

 seen in Fig. 5, showing the hind leg of a humble bee ; but 

 in the hive bee these 9.re absent, as photograph No. 3 



