MAN'S WINGED ALLY, THE BUSY HONEYBEE 



425 



through the sense of sight; instead, it is 

 effected by the more highly developed sense 

 of smell. 



Every colony has a distinctive family 

 odor, different from that of every other 

 colony. If a strange bee attempts to enter 

 a hive, the guards at the entrance detect its 

 alien odor and drive it away (Plate I). 

 When a colony is divided into two parts, 

 the parts placed in separate hives and given 

 queens that are sisters, the bees in each half 

 develop different odors. Within a week's 

 time they become total strangers to each 

 other. Were the halves united again, the 

 bees would disregard the existence of any 

 relationship. 



It sometimes happens that a beekeeper 

 unites two or more colonies, which sepa- 

 rately are too weak to produce a crop or 

 to survive a hard winter. The usual method 

 is to place one hive on top of the other, 

 inserting a sheet of newspaper between 

 them. The bees from both sides gnaw 

 small holes in the paper and, in doing so, 

 they "rub noses," but the holes at first are 

 not large enough for the bees on either 

 side to engage in combat. The apertures 

 permit the mingling of the odors of the two 

 units, so that by the time the holes are 

 large enough for the bees to pass through, 

 the two parts have an identical odor. Thus 

 union takes place peacefully. 



"coronation" of a new queen 



If it becomes necessary to place a new 

 queen in a colony, it is essential that she 

 be properly "introduced." The old queen 

 is removed at least an hour before the new- 

 comer is "presented." In this interval the 

 colony discovers that it is queenless and 

 it may start constructing new queen cells. 



Even though the colony desires a queen, 

 it would not do to release the usurper, be- 

 cause her strange odor would antagonize 

 the bees and endanger her life. She is 

 placed in a wire cage to protect her from 

 assaults. Although her new subjects would 

 kill her were she suddenly released, they 

 feed her by inserting their tongues through 

 the meshes of the wire. 



After the queen remains in this cage 

 for two or three days, she will have lost 

 much of the odor of her former hive and 

 acquired that of her new abode. Even then 

 her actual release must be accomplished 

 quietly and without excitement. Her cage 

 is provided with a plug of soft candy. Two 

 or three days are required for the bees to 



tunnel through. Aleantime the odors have 

 mmgled, and the queen can walk out on 

 the combs of her new home without undue 

 risk. 



Honeybees help perpetuate their race by 

 their insatiable desire to gather nectar. 

 Unlike bumblebees, hornets, yellow jackets, 

 and wasps, honeybees cannot live from hand 

 to mouth. They must store enough food 

 during the summer to keep the colony alive 

 throughout the winter. Of the four other 

 insects just mentioned, all the individuals 

 in each colony die at the approach of winter 

 except the young mated queens, and these 

 simply crawl into protected places where 

 they hibernate. During this period they 

 require no food. 



Among honeybees, only the drones die in 

 the fall. The queen and the workers live 

 and are semi-active throughout the winter 

 (see text, page 411). It is important, there- 

 fore, to gather enough food during the sum- 

 mer to maintain the colony during seasons 

 when insect activity largely ceases. 



At the end of the swarming season, which 

 coincides with the height of the breeding 

 season, the queen lays fewer and fewer eggs 

 until fall, when the rearing of the brood 

 entirely ceases. Cold weather has over- 

 taken the colony by this time, imposing 

 changes in its organization to cope with 

 low temperatures. Individual honeybees 

 die of chill at temperatures well above 

 freezing; in fact, they seldom fly when the 

 temperature is lower than 45 degrees 

 Fahrenheit. Hence the colony must main- 

 tain a life-sustaining temperature when the 

 thermometer dips to zero or lower. 



REGULATING WINTER TEMPERATURE 



During the active season the bees spread 

 over the entire interior of the hive; when 

 winter comes, they gather in a spherical, 

 compact cluster with the queen in the cen- 

 ter. Those on the outside are crowded in 

 a sort of insulating shell to prevent escape 

 of heat. Those on the inside are in looser 

 formation. Those in the center carry on 

 muscular activity, which generates suffi- 

 cient heat to keep the bees from chilling. 



The bees do not permit the periphery of 

 the cluster to fall below 57 degrees Fahren- 

 heit: thus the colder the outside tempera- 

 ture becomes, the more muscular activity 

 they must perform to maintain warmth. 

 The bees composing the insulating shell 

 change places at frequent intervals with 

 those of the interior. 



