MAN'S WINGED ALLY, THE BUSY HONEYBEE 



411 



The next duty is that of gathering pol- 

 len and, finally, nectar. In an emergency 

 the field bees can resume nursery duties 

 again, but when a bee becomes old enough 

 to work in the field it usually dies in its 

 boots, literally working itself to death. 



A newly emerged bee is covered with 

 fluffy golden hair. After four weeks in the 

 field it is darker, much of the hair has been 

 worn from its body, and its wings are 

 tattered and torn (Plate VII). Eventually 

 it will no longer be able to sustain itself 

 in flight. Thus its life span is measured 

 largely by the amount of work done. The 

 bees reared late in the fall, when there is 

 little or no work to be done in the fields, 

 live all winter. 



Whenever plants are in blossom and it 

 is warm enough for the bees to fly, they 

 go forth at daybreak and continue until 

 nightfall, or until it becomes too cold or 

 rainy to work. Drop by drop the nectar 

 comes into the hive. The storage of more 

 food than the colony can consume for its 

 own needs seems an incredible task, yet 

 in a favorable locality strong colonies have 

 brought in as many as 25 pounds of nectar 

 in a day. 



A steady stream at the entrance con- 

 tinues day after day, the bees going several 

 miles and returning unerringly to their 

 homes. Bees have flown eight and a half 

 miles away from the hive in search of food, 

 although usually they forage within a mile 

 or two of the hive, going no farther than 

 necessary. 



A SINGLE-TRACK INSTINCT 



In gathering nectar and pollen, the bees 

 do not fly aimlessly, as butterflies do, from 

 one species of flower to another. If a bee 

 starts working on dandelions, for example, it 

 will continue throughout the trip to visit 

 only dandelion blossoms, and in all likeli- 

 hood it will continue working on dandelions 

 as long as it can obtain a modicum of nectar 

 or pollen. Another bee from the same colony 

 may concentrate on apple blossoms, in 

 which case it carefully avoids the blossoms 

 of pear trees or other varieties. It may 

 even have to fly over acres of dandehon- 

 studded meadows before reaching another 

 apple tree, but its instinct keeps it to a 

 single track. 



Such constancy makes the bee a depend- 

 able pollinizing agent. If it collected in- 

 discriminately from the flowers, its work 

 would be less effective (see text, page 402). 



The pollen of the apple would not benefit 

 the blossom of the pear, and vice versa. 

 Changes in atmospheric conditions, or in 

 the plants themselves, may cause a whole- 

 sale change in the work schedule. 



Some plants secrete nectar only a few 

 hours a day, while other plants may con- 

 tinue throughout the day; and, since bees 

 wisely seek the richest source of nectar, 

 they may suddenly desert one plant for an- 

 other that proves more tempting. The 

 richness of this sparkling drop of nectar, 

 which the blossom ofi'ers to the bee in ex- 

 change for the pollen from another blos- 

 som, causes the bee to accept the highest 

 bidder. 

 _ Although bees invariably effect pollina- 

 tion in the blossoms from which they obtain 

 either nectar or poflen, the latter is so in- 

 dispensable to the welfare of the colony 

 that the bees are compelled to visit count- 

 less numbers of flowers which secrete little 

 or no nectar but which do furnish them with 

 pollen. Thus the bees pollinize numerous 

 varieties of plants. 



WHY A BLOSSOM "WEARS" PERFUME 



The worker bee is particularly adapted 

 to gather pollen. Almost every part of its 

 body is covered with hair (Plate V) . Many 

 of the hairs are long, lacy, and branched; 

 spikelike hairs even grow between the 

 facets of its compound eyes (page 426). 

 When a bee alights on a flower that has 

 abundant pollen, the pollen grains become 

 entangled in its numerous hairs, and in 

 gathering a load to carry back to the hive, 

 the bee brushes over the stigma of the blos- 

 som, inadvertently transferring to its sticky 

 surface grains of pollen. For this act the 

 blossom lives and offers its alluring per- 

 fume and enticing nectar. 



Shortly after pollination is effected, the 

 blossom wilts. After thoroughly covering 

 itself with pollen, the bee hovers above the 

 flower for several seconds, combing the 

 pollen from itself and packing it securely 

 in the two poflen baskets on its hind legs 

 (Plate V). Thus it can carry two peflets, 

 each almost as large as its head. 



"bee bread" in the hive's pantry 



Upon reaching the hive, the bee inserts 

 its hind legs into a cell and pries off the two 

 pellets of pollen. There a young bee, with 

 its head, rams the pollen into a compact 

 cake into the bottom of the cell. Pollen is 

 not mixed with honey. It is stored in sep- 



