BEE PRODUOTS, ETC. 



38 



CHAPTER VII. 

 BEE PRODUCTS, &c. 



57. Honey — It is a common error to suppose that honey is 

 gathered by bees from flowers. Honey is the product of the 

 nectar secreted in the nectaries of flowers, and subjected to a 

 chemical change in the honey sac (38) of the bee ; the cane 

 sugar of the nectar being converted into the grape sugar of 

 honey by its mixture with the secretion of certain glands in 

 the insect. Speaking generally, nectar may be said to contain 

 from so per cent, to So per cent, of water (59), according to 

 the flowers from which it is collected and to the state of the 

 atmosphere as damp or dry. Some flowers — the fuschia, for 

 example, secrete nectar which has a much smaller percentage 

 of water. The secretion is nature's provision for securing the 

 fertilization of plants by inducing the visits of insects, notably 

 of the bee, in order that pollen, the fertilising dust, may be 

 carried from flower to flower (74). It is aft'ected by tempera- 

 ture, and by the state of the weather. It is lessened by con- 

 tinued drought, and increased by gentle rain accompanied by 

 heat. Usually it is greatest in the morning ; decreasing in the 

 afternoon. Every bee-keeper knows what it is to have his bees 

 idle during days of sunshine, tho' situated in the midst of 

 honey-producing plants and flowers, when long absence of rain 

 and dew has retarded the secretion of nectar. 



58. Gathering and Storing Honey 



When bees visit the flowers, they 

 suck the nectar by means of the spoon 

 (32) and groove; and, passing 

 through the oesophagus or gullet, it 

 enters the honey sac (38). Below the 

 honey sac is situated the stomach 

 mouth which the insect can, at will, 

 open to admit the honey to the chyle 

 stomach as food, or close when the 

 honey is intended to be stored (38). 

 In the latter case the muscles of the 

 honey sac are brought into play, and 

 the fluid is forced out of the mouth 

 and deposited in the comb cells. The 

 ' existence of the honey sac and 

 stomach mouth explain various phen- 

 (Photo by J- G. Digges.) omena in the life of the bee — how, when 

 Fig K. swarming, she can carry from the 



BBK ON CLEVER. ° V .n» J 



