Social Bees and Wasps 



This process is continued all night to a greater or less 

 extent, and is the cause of the buzzing that may be heard 

 inside any healthy hive long after dark in a summer 

 night." Honey in this state would soon decompose and 

 be useless to the bees as well as to mankind. When one 

 considers all the other marvels of bee life, it is hardly 

 surprising to find that this point has not been neglected. 

 A small quantity of formic acid is added to the honey, 

 to make it keep. It is uncertain whence the bee derives 

 this acid ; it has been said that it is supplied by the 

 poison sacs of the sting, which certainly contain formic 

 acid. It is more probably derived, however, from 

 special glands in the head, at the time the nectar is 

 regurgitated. 



Besides pollen and nectar, the bees bring water and 

 propolis, a red resinous substance derived from buds, to 

 their home. At times the supply of moisture in the hive 

 reaches a low ebb, despite the rapid evaporation from the 

 watery nectar. As a result the young larvae are over- 

 come with thirst which must be quenched. Then and 

 then only the foragers fill their honey stomachs with 

 water, sipped as dew from leaves, and carry it back to 

 the parched youngsters in the hive. Propolis is used in 

 the repair of the cells ; it is composed of the gummy 

 matter which oozes from certain plants.' It is carried by 

 the foragers in their pollen baskets and, on their return 

 to the hive, is used at once and never stored away in any 

 of the cells. 



The inside workers, to which, with the exception of the 

 nurses, we have paid scant attention, are' no less in- 

 dustrious than the foragers. The greater number, of 

 course, find employment in wax and honey making, cell 

 building and repairing. Others are told off to attend to 

 the ventilation ; others, again, keep the hive clean 

 excreta, old wax, their dead comrades and other refuse, 

 which perforce collects in the hive, are all removed by 

 the workers. Then there are the doorkeepers. The bees 



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