INTERRELATIONS OF INSECTS 285 



elation to flowers have been described, as well as many of their sensory 

 peculiarities; there remain to be added, however, some other items of 

 interest, chosen from the many. 



A colony of bees in good condition at the opening of the season con- 

 tins a laying queen and some 30,000 to 40,000 worker bees, or six to 

 ;ight quarts by measurement. Besides this there should be four, five, 

 or even more combs fairly stocked with developing brood, with a good 

 supply of honey about it. Drones may also be present, even to the 

 number of several hundred. 



Ordinarily the queen mates but once, flying from the hive to meet 



drone high in the air, when five to nine days old usually. Seminal 

 fluid sufficient to impregnate the greater number of eggs she will deposit 

 during the next two or three years (sometimes even four or five years) 

 is stored at the time of mating in a sac the spermatheca, opening into 

 the egg-passage. 



The liquid secreted in the nectaries of flowers is usually quite thin, 

 containing, when just gathered, a large percentage of water. Bees suck 

 or lap it up from such flowers as they can reach with their flexible, suck- 

 ing tongue, 0.25 to 0.28 inch long. This nectar is taken into the honey 

 sac, located in the abdomen, for transportation to the hive. Besides 

 being thin, the nectar has at first a raw, rank taste, usually the flavor 

 and odor peculiar to the plant from which gathered, and these are fre- 

 quently far from agreeable. To make from this raw product the health- 

 ful and delicious table luxury which honey constitutes "fit food for the 

 gods" is another of the functions peculiar to the worker bee. The 

 first step is the stationing of workers in lines near the hive entrances. 

 These, by incessant buzzing of their wings, drive currents of air into and 

 out of the hive and over the comb surfaces. If the hand be held before 

 the entrance at such a time a strong current of warm air may be felt 

 coming out. The loud buzzing heard at night during the summer time 

 is due to the wings of workers engaged chiefly in ripening nectar. In- 

 stead of being at rest, as many suppose, the busy workers are caring for 

 the last-gathered lot of nectar and making room for further accessions. 

 This may go on far into the night, or even all night, to a greater or less 

 extent, the loudness and activity being proportionate to the amount and 

 thinness of the liquid. Frequently the ripening honey is removed from 

 one set of cells and placed in others. This may be to gain the use of 

 certain combs for the queen, or possibly it is merely incidental to the 

 manipulation the bees wish to give it. When, finally, the process has 

 been completed, it is found that the water content has usually been re- 





