326 ENTOMOLOGY 



water. Bees suck or lap it up from such flowers as they can 

 reach with their flexible, sucking 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, generally the flavor 

 and odor peculiar to the plant from which gathered, and these 

 are frequently far from agreeable. To make from this raw 

 product the healthful and delicious table luxury which honey 

 constitutes " fit food for the gods " is another of the func- 

 tions peculiar to the worker bee. The first step is the station- 

 ing 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 o>er 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. Instead 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 propor- 

 tionate 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 manipula- 

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

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

 been reduced to 10 or 12 per cent., and that the disagreeable 

 odors and flavors, probably due to volatile oils, have also been 

 driven off in a great measure, if not wholly, by the heat of 

 the hive, largely generated by the bees. During the manipu- 

 lation an antiseptic (formic acid) secreted by glands in the 

 head of the bee, and possibly other glandular secretions as well 

 have been added. The finished product is stored in waxen 

 cells above and around the brood nest and the main cluster of 

 bees, as far from the entrance as it can be and still be near 



