164 THE bee-kbepbr's guide ; 



stated, forms in small scales (Fig. 72, w) under the over-lap- 

 ping ring's under the abdomen. I have found these -wax- 

 scales on both old and young. According to Fritz Muller, the 

 admirable German observer, so long a traveler in South 

 America, the bees of the genus Melipona secrete the wax on 

 the back. 



The young bees commence work in a day from the cells. 

 They build the comb, ventilate the hive, feed the larv^, queen 

 and drones, and cap the cells. The older bees — for, as readily 

 seen in Italianizing, the young bees do not usually go forth 

 for the first two weeks — gather the honey, collect the pollen, 

 or bee-bread as it is generally called, bring in the propolis or 

 bee-glue, which is used to close openings and as a cement, 

 supply the hive with water (?), defend the hive from all im- 

 proper intrusion, destroy drones when their day of grace is 

 past, kill and arrange for replacing worthless queens, destroy 

 inchoate queens, drones, or even workers, if circumstances 

 demand it, and lead forth a portion of the bees when the con- 

 ditions impel them to swarm. 



When there are no young bees, the old bees will act as 

 housekeepers and nurses, which they otherwise refuse to do. 

 The young bees, on the other hand, will not go forth to glean, 

 at less than six days of age, even though there are no old bees 

 to do this necessary part of bee-duties. An indirect function 

 of all the bees is to suppl}' animal heat, as the very life of the 

 bees requires that the temperature inside the hive be main- 

 tained at a rate considerably above freezing. In the chemical 

 processes attendant upon nutrition, much heat is generated, 

 which, as first shown by Newport, may be considerably aug- 

 mented at the pleasure of the bees, by forced respiration. The 

 bees, by a rapid vibration of their wings, have the power to 

 ventilate their hives and reduce the temperature when the 

 weather is hot. Thus they are able to moderate the heat of 

 summer, and temper the cold of winter. 



