LESSON TWENTY-NINE. 
BEES. 
1. Honey.—When plants are in flower they secrete a 
substance (nectar), which, when worked over by bees, 
is known as honey. The working or neuter bees are 
able to suck the nectar out of the flowers by means 
of lapping mouth parts. They then swallow this fluid, 
passing it into the dilation of the cesophagus called 
the crop or honey bag. On arrival at the hive the honey 
is disgorged into the cells of the comb. The nectar is 
probably altered by admixture with the secretion of the 
crop. At first this sub- 
stance is very much of a 
fluid consistency, but it 
is readily thickened by 
the workers who vibrate 
their wings so violently 
over the cells into which 
the deposit was placed 
that the surplus water is 
evaporated. The prod- 
uct thus gathered and 
stored in the comb is used 
by the bees as: food. 
2. Young bees.—Not all 
of the cells of the comb 
are filled with honey. In 
some, eggs are deposited EXAMINING THE HIVE 
by the queen bee, The Beekeepers must look after their bees 
as carefully as the stock breeder looks 
: after his herds, if he would have them 
queen bee 1S the mother thrifty and profitable producers. 
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