226 



THE) MMBKICMfl MMW; JOOKIfMI*-. 



and sticks it fast. In three days this 

 egg hatches, and there appears in the 

 bottom of the cell a young animal 

 called a "larva," which word means 

 "masked." It being so-called because 

 the true character of the perfect insect 

 is hidden. The larva is fed by the young 

 bees an abundance of food which 

 is probably secreted by one of the spe- 

 cial glands of the head previously re- 

 ferred to, instead of a mixture of pollen 

 and honey as has been supposed, and it 

 grows very rapidly. In Ave days it 

 straightens out in the cell and the bees 

 seal it over. The larva soon spins its 

 cocoon and enters the "pupa" state, 

 80 called from its lifeless and puppet- 



Larva of the Bee. 



like appearance. It remains in this 

 condition about thirteen days. What 

 it does during this time 1 would be 

 glad to tell you, but I do not know. I 

 only know that it passes through a 

 gradual transformation until it becomes 

 an imago, or perfect insect. In other 

 words, a young bee full grown, about 

 the twenty-first day after the egg is 

 laid, cuts a circular hole through the 

 capping, emerges from the cell, and be- 

 gins to walk about on the comb. This 

 is the history of the development of 

 the worker. 



But as I remarked before, there are 

 three kinds of bees in each hive and 

 they differ not only in their general ap- 

 {jearance and the offices which they ful- 

 fill, but they have a somewhat different 

 history as we trace their development 

 from the egg to the perfect bee. The 

 queen begins life in a cell three or four 

 times as large as that of an ordinary 

 worker. Her cell is perpendicular in- 

 stead of horizontal. From the moment 

 the egg hatches, which is on the third 

 day, the young larva (not a "worm") 

 receives an extra amount of food, which 

 is also richer than that given to the 

 larva of an ordinary bee. This extra 

 food and care hastens and changes her 

 development, and causes her to mature 

 in a shorter time than would the larva 

 hatched from the same egg in an ordi- 

 nary cell and treated as are the larvae of 

 worker bees. About sixteen days after 

 the egg is laid, the young queen cuts a 

 circular hole in the bottom of her cell, 

 crawls out on the comb and begins to 

 help herself to the honey about her. 

 In four or five days she comes out of 

 the hive, takes wing, flies away in the 

 air, meets a drone, or male bee, is fe- 

 cundated, returns to the hive, and, in 

 two or three days, begins her life work 

 of laying eggs. 



Eggs that produce drones are laid in 

 cells a little larger than those of the 



workers, and it is about twenty-four 

 days before his droneship makes his 

 appearance. How it is that the queen 

 is able to lay eggs that produce three 

 kinds of bees so different in their de- 

 velopment, appearance and office, is a 

 matter of deep interest, but my space 

 will not permit me'to go into an expla- 

 nation of h. I call your attention next 

 to the 



Products of Bees* 



The products are wax, shaped into 

 combs, honey and propolis. The early 

 liee keepers and scientists, such as 

 Reaumur and Swamtuerdam, held to 

 the opinion that wax was made from 

 the pollen, or " bee-bread," as it is 

 sometimes called, which the bees were 

 seen carrying in on their leas. About 

 1768 it was discovered by a Frenchman 

 that this was not the case, but that it 

 was the result of the secretion of the 

 glands, found in the lower part of the 

 abdomen, under the wax pockets to 

 which I previously referred. It is se- 

 creted by the glands in a liquid state, 

 passes through by osmose on to the 

 surface of the wax pockets, and there 

 hardens in the form of little scales. 

 During the busy season of comb build- 

 ing these can be seen protruding from 

 between the segments of the abdomen, 

 with the naked eye. The bee removes 

 them from their resting-place by the 

 use of a peculiar pair of nippers found 

 between two of the joints of the hind 

 legs. They are then passed forward to 

 the mouthwhere they are mixed with 

 the secretion of some of the special 



the comb is completed, it is composed 

 of hexagonal, or six-sided, cells, and is 

 constructed in a way that renders it 

 very strong, and at the same time it 

 occupies the smallest amount of space 

 possible. Five worker cells occupy one 

 inch of space, while four of the drone 

 cells, which are larger, make an inch. 

 This gives about twenty-five cells to 

 the square inch on each side of the 

 comb for the workers, so that, you see., 

 a very small space will contain a very 



Brood- Comb — with Queen- Cell. 



glands previously referred to, worked 

 up by means of the tongue and jaws, 

 very much like a mason works mortar, 

 until they become soft and pliable. 



The bee is now ready to commence 

 comb building, which it does by depos- 

 iting little bits of wax on the frame 

 where the comb is to be made. Anoth- 

 er follows its example, and so the work 

 goes on until " In the darkness and be- 

 tween the bees, " to use the language 

 of another, " grows downwards that 

 wonderful combination of lightness 

 and strength, grace and utility, which 

 has so long provoked the wonder and 

 awakened the speculation of the philos- 

 opher, the naturalist, and the mathe- 

 matician." 



A further description of this comb- 

 building would be interesting had I 

 the time. Suffice it to say that when 



Ovaries of the Laying- Worker. 



large number of cells. The combs are 

 now ready for the queen to lay eggs in 

 them, or tor the workers to use them 

 for storing. 



Relation to Flowers and Frnit. 



There has been more or less prejudice 

 against bees, by fruit-growers who are 

 ignorant of a bee's organism and hab- 

 its. You frequently hear people talk 

 about bees eating up their peaches, 

 grapes and other fruit, in a way that 

 would lead one who did not know bet- 

 ter, to think the bees had jaws, teeth 

 and tusks like a tiger. Now, the truth 

 of the matter is, a bee cannot eat up 

 anything in that way. It has no teeth 

 to do it with, and its jaw is so con- 

 structed that it cannot break even the 

 skin of a sound grape. It can only 

 suck or lick up the juice after the grape 

 has burst from over-ripeness, or dry 

 weather, or has been punctured by 

 wasps or other insects. Bees are not 

 only not a detriment to fruits and flow- 

 ers, but 1 propose to explain now how 

 they are a great benefit, and that we 

 owe it to them that we have many of 

 our fruits and flowers at all. Sir John 

 Lubbock well says: "Most botanists 

 are now agreed that insects, and espe- 



Conib. 



cially bees, have played a very impor- 

 tant part in the development of flow- 

 ers." 



It has been demonstrated by such 

 men as Darwin and others, that the 

 flowers need the bees as much as the 

 bees need the flowers, and that one is 

 the complement of the other. 



