50 INTRODUCTION TO ZOOLOGY. 



Additional Facts About Bees, Ants, and Wasps. 



Ants, bees, and wasps belong to the order Hy- 

 menoptera. The name means membrane wings, and is 

 applied to those insects because the wings are mostly 

 membrane, having very few veins. The metamor- 

 phosis is complete, the larva and pupa both being help- 

 less, living in a cell and being attended by the mature 

 insects until all their transformations are completed. 



They must be classed with the insects having 

 sucking mouth parts, although the mandibles are 

 used for biting also. The social organization is very 

 complex. Among the bumblebees and hive bees there 

 are three kinds of individuals : the queens, or females ; 

 the drones, o"r males ; and the workers, which are 

 sometimes called neuters but really are undeveloped 

 females. The queens lay the eggs. The presence of 

 the drones is necessary, to fertilize the eggs ; and the 

 workere, which constitute the most numerous class, 

 attend to storing honey, making wax, and feeding the 

 young bees. 



Honey is obtained from flowers. Nectar, when it 

 is gathered, contains more water, more essential oils, 

 and less formic acid, than honey. When a cell is 

 filled with honey, formic acid is added to the honey 

 from glands in the head, and the cell is capped over 

 with wax. Formic acid is the same poison that is 

 ejected by the sting, and it acts as a preservative of 

 the honey. Honey that is taken before the cells are 

 capped over will usually ferment and spoil. Pollen is 

 the pollen of the flower, and is gathered to feed the 

 young bees. Wax, from which honeycomb is made, 

 is secreted b5''tlie bees from glands which open on the 

 abdomen. When making wax, some of the bees re- 

 main stationary ill the hive and are fed honey by other 

 bees. They eat about twenty-one pounds of honey for 

 nvery pound of wax they secrete. The workers take 



