BEE

(An tho phil a), a family of hymenopterous insects having feather-like hairs on head and body; mouth parts modified for sucking nectar from flowers; first legs po e mechanism for cleaning antenne, third legs broadened, and (in workers) modified for gathering pollen; like other Hymenoptera they undergo complete metamorphosis. From primitive ‘solitary’ species, of curious nesting habits, have evolved the social bees with two kinds of females, reproductive queens and, ordinarily, sterile workers, common hive bee (Apis mellific a), domesticated from ancient times, being the common and most highly specialized representative. The differentiation of labor in the wonderful organization of the hive-bee society is le marked in the humble bees (Bombus), where the queen, in addition to her egg-laying functions, also a ists the workers. The hive bee swarms in early summer. The workers, after a great commotion, having stuffed themselves with honey and loaded their legs with a resinous substance called propolis, fly with a fertilized queen to form a new colony. The workers settle on the proposed site, usually in a hive, and wait for a day till the temperature has risen sufficiently to enable them to exude small plates of wax from eight pockets on the lower side of abdomen. After the wax has been kneaded by the jaws of the workers it is fixed at the top of the hive, and the construction of the hexagonal cells proceeds till the comb is completed. Egg-laying now begins, most eggs receiving fertilized (worker) eggs, others, built larger for the purpose, parthenogenetic (drone) eggs, the queen probably instinctively regulating fertilization. While the eggs in the drone cells develop into drones, stingle males, whose sole function is that of sex, the fertilized eggs give rise to workers or queens according to the food given to the grubs. While the worker grubs are fed with pollen and honey, those destined by the community to develop into queens are in specially built cells, ‘royal cradles,’ fed with a more nutritious preparation called ‘royal jelly.’ Should there be no queen, a new one is developed by the workers by feeding a worker grub on ‘royal jelly.’ The entire development of a queen, from egg through grub-pupa stage to adult, requires 16 days, that of a worker 21 days, and of a drone 24 days. The older workers gather the honey while the younger ones are engaged in various duties inside the hive, feeding the grubs, ventilating the hive, keeping it clean, repairing cells with propolis, fighting alien bees, and destroying the surplus drones, if the hive has a breeding queen. The virgin queen kills her rivals on returning to the hive after having engaged on her nuptial flight, fertilization occurring in mid-air by the strongest and best-flying drone, If a new colony is to be founded, the nuptial flight takes place, and the first queen escapes along with a band of workers. Honey is stored ~ large quantities for winter con sump i on. Bee Keeping.—Bees are most important domesticated animals, not only being providers of honey, but also indispensable for fertilizing flowering plants which are themselves adapted to the insects in the same measure as the latter are modified for collecting nectar. From the earliest times, when a hollowed tree served as a hive, to the straw skep, and finally, to the modern scientific bee farm (apiary) of N. America, with its annual harvest of many you sands of lbs. of honey, many improvements in bee keeping have led to the latter result. These improvements have been the wooden frame, the artificial comb foundation, and other appliances to direct and aid the bees in completing the comb, the centrifugal honey extractor, which enables the bee-keeper to use the same comb again, and, above all, a greater knowledge of the bees and their diseases.