ORGANS AND PRODUCTS OF liEES. 23 



between the fifth aud sixtli nlxiominal segments a small canal, to which 

 he attributed an excretory function, and Zoubareft, having noticed bees 

 ejecting- a watery substance while returning from the fields, suggested 

 that this gland probably served to separate a portion of the water from 

 the nectar, the licpiid deposited in the cells appearing to contain less of it 

 than that just secreted by the flowers. However this may be, evapora- 

 tion takes place rapidl}^ m the heat of the hive after the nectar or thin 

 honey has been stored, as it is temporarily, in open cells. Besides being 

 thin, the nectar has at first a raw, rank taste, generally the flavor andodor 

 peculiar to the plant from which gathered, and these are frequently far 

 from agreeable. To make from this raw product the healthful and deli- 

 cious table luxury which honey constitutes — "fit food for the gods" — 

 is another of the functions peculiar to the worker bee. The first step is 

 the stationing of workers in lines near the hive entrances. These, 

 by incessant buzzing of their wings, drive currents of air into and 

 out of the hive and over the comb surfaces. If the hand be held be- 

 fore the entrance at such a time a strong current of warm air may 

 be felt coming out. The loud buzzing heard at night during the 

 summer time is due to the wings of workers engaged chiefi}^ in ripen- 

 ing nectar. Instead of being at rest, as many suppose, the busy workers 

 are caring for the last lot of gathered nectar and making room for 

 further accessions. This may go on far into the night, or even all night, 

 to a greater or less extent, the loudness and activity being proportion- 

 ate to the amount and thinness of the liquid. Frequently the ripening 

 honey is removed from one set of cells and placed in others. This may 

 be to gain the use of certain combs for the queen, or possibly it is merely 

 incidental to the manii)ulatioii the bees wish to give it. ^^'hen, finally, 

 the i)rocess has been completed, it is found that the water content has 

 usually been reduced to 10 or 12 per cent, and that the disagreeable 

 odors and flavors, probably due to volatile oils, have also been driven 

 off in a great measure, if not wholly, by the heat of the hive, largely 

 generated by the bees. During the manipulation an antisei)tic — formic 

 acid — secreted by glands in the head of the bee, and it is also i)ossible 

 other glandular secretions, have been added. The finished product is 

 stored in waxen cells above and around the brood nest and the main 

 cluster of bees, as far from the entrance as it can be and still be near 

 to the brood and bees. The work of sealing with waxen caps then goes 

 forward rapidly, the covering being more or less porous. 



Each kind of honey has its distinctive flavor and aroma, derived, as 

 already indicated, mainly from the particular blossoms by which it was 

 vsecreted, but modified and softened by the manipulation given it in the 

 hives. When the secretion is abundant in a flower having a short or 

 open corolla, hence one from which the bees find it easy to obtain the 

 honey, they will confine their visits to that kind if the latter is present 

 in suflicient numbers. Thus it is that linden, white clover, buckwheat. 



