148 Digestion of Nectar. 



in buckwheat honey, less in basswood. There is also ;i 

 little acid — formic acid — which probably aids to digest the 

 nectar, and possibly with the saliva, maj', like the acid 

 gastric juice of our own stomachs, resist putrefaction, or 

 any kind of fermentation. It has been urged that thi^ 

 is added to the honey by the bees dropping poison from 

 the sting. I much doubt this theory. It is more reason- 

 able, however, than the absurd view that the bee uses its 

 sting to polish its cells. If the poison glands can secrete 

 formic acid, why cannot the glands of the stomach? Anal- 

 ogy, no less than common sense, favors this view. The 

 acid of honey is often recognizable to the taste, as every 

 lover of honey knows. The acid is also shown by use of 

 blue litmus. The specific gravity varies greatly of course, 

 as we should expect from the great variation in the 

 amount of v^^ater. I have found very thick honey to have 

 a specific gravity of 1.40 to 1.50. The fact that honey is 

 digested nectar or sucrose shows that in eating honey, our 

 food is partially digested for us, the cane sugar is changed 

 to a sugar that can be readily absorbed and assimilated. 



I have fed bees pure cane sugar, and when stored, the 

 late Prof. R. F. Kedzie found that nearly all of this sugar 

 was transformed in much tlie same way that the nectar is 

 changed which is taken from the flowers. 



It is probable that the large compound racemose glands 

 in the head and thorax of the bees (Fig. 38, i5, c:,) secrete an 

 abundant ferment which hastens these transformations 

 which the sugars undergo while in the honey stomach of 

 the bee. Possibly juices from the honey stomach also aid 

 in these changes. Much of the water escapes after the 

 honey is stored. 



The method of collecting honey has already been 

 described. The principles of lapping and suction are both 

 involved in the operation. 



When the stomach is full, the bee repairs to the hive and 

 regurgitates its precious load, either giving it to the bees or 

 storing it in the cells. This honey remains for some time 

 uncapjDed that it may ripen, in which process the water is 

 partially evaporated and the honey rendered thicker. If the 

 honey remains uncapped, or is removed from the cells, it will 



