CHAPTER IV.
Among all insects, bees stand first in the variety of the useful products which they give us; and next to the silk-moths in the importance of these products. They seem the more remarkable and important, in that so few insects yield articles of commercial value. True, the cochineal insect, a species of bark-louse, gives us an important coloring material; the lac insect, of the same family, gives us the important element of our best glue—shellac; the blister-beetles afford an article prized by the physician, while we are indebted to one of the gall-flies for a valuable element of ink But the honey-bee affords not only a delicious article of food, but also another article of no mean commercial rank—namely, wax. We will proceed to examine the various products which come from bees.
Of course the first product of bees, not only to attract attention, but also in importance, is honey. And what is honey? We can only say that it is a sweet substance gathered from flowers and other sources, by the bees. We cannot, therefore, give its chemical composition, which would be as varied as the sources from which it comes. We cannot even call it a sugar, for it may be, and always is composed of various sugars, and thus it is easy to understand why honey varies so much in richness, color, flavor, and effects on digestion. In fact, it is very doubtful if honey is a manufactured article at all. It seems most likely that the bees only collect it as it is distilled by myriad leaves and flowers, and store it up, that it may minister to their and our necessities. To be sure, some writers contend that it undergoes some change while in the bee's stomach; but the rapidity with which theystore, and the seeming entire similarity between honey and sugar fed to them, and the same immediately extracted from the comb, has led me to believe that the transforming power of the stomach is very slight, if, indeed, it exists at all. To be sure, I have fed sugar, giving bees empty combs at night-fall, and found the flavor of honey early the next morning. In this case, honey might have been already in the bees' stomachs, or might have been carried from other portions of the hive. The method of collecting the 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. Mr. Doolittle claims that the bees that gather, give all their honey to the other bees, which latter store it in the cells. This honey remains for some time uncapped that it may ripen, by 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 generally granulate, if the temperature be reduced below 70°. This is probably owing to the presence of the cane-sugar, and is a good indication, as it denotes superior quality. Some honey, as that from the South, and some from California, seems to remain liquid indefinitely. Some kinds of our own honey crystallize much more readily than others. But that granulation is a test that honey is pure, is untrue; that it is a sign of superior excellence, I think quite probable.
When there are no flowers, or when the flowers yield no sweets, the bees, ever desirous to add to their stores, frequently essay to rob other colonies, and often visit the refuse of cider mills, or suck up the oozing sweets of various plant or bark lice, thus adding, may be, unwholesome food to their usually delicious and refined stores. It is a curious fact that the queen never lays her maximum number of eggs except when storing is going on. In fact, in the interims of honey-gathering, egg-laying not infrequently ceases altogether. The queen seems discreet, gauging the size of her family by the probable means of support.
Again, in times of extraordinary yields of honey, the storingis so rapid that the hive becomes so filled that the queen is unable to lay her full quota of eggs; in fact, I have seen the brood very much reduced in this way, which, of course, greatly depleted the colony. This might be called ruinous prosperity. The natural use of the honey is to furnish the mature bees with food, and when mixed with pollen, to form the diet of the young bees.
Fig. 27.Under-side Abdomen, magnified.a, a, etc.—Wax pellets.Wax-Scales in situ, magnified.w—Wax-scale.
Fig. 27.
The product of the bees, second in importance, is wax. This is a solid, unctious substance, and is, as shown by its chemical composition, a fat-like material, though not as some authors assert, the fat of bees. As already observed, this is a secretion formed in pellets, the shape of an irregular pentagon (Fig, 27,w, underneath the abdomen. These pellets are light-colored, very thin and fragile, and are secreted by and molded upon the membrane towards the body from the wax-pockets. Neighbour speaks of the wax oozing through pores from the stomach. This is not the case, but, as with the synovial fluid about our own joints, is formed by the secreting membrane, and does not pass through holes, as water through a sieve. There are four of these wax-pockets on each side, and thus there may be eight wax-scales on a bee at one time. This wax can be secreted by the bees, when fed on pure sugar, as shown by Huber, which experiment I have verified. I removed all honey and comb from my observing-hive, left the bees for twenty-four hours to digest all food which might bein their stomachs, then fed pure sugar, which was better than honey, as Prof. R. F. Kedzie has shown by analysis that not only filtered honey, but even the nectar which he collected right from the flowers themselves, contains nitrogen. The bees commenced at once to build comb, and continued for several days, so long as I kept them confined. This is, as we should suppose; sugar contains hydrogen and oxygen in proportion to form water, while the third element, carbon, is in the same or about the same proportion as the oxygen. Now, the fats usually contain little oxygen, and a good deal of carbon and hydrogen. Thus, the sugar by losing some of its oxygen would contain the requisite elements for fat. It was found true in the days of slavery in the South, that the negroes of Louisiana, during the gathering of the cane, would become very fat. They ate much sugar; they gained much fat. Now, wax is a fat-like substance, not that it is the animal fat of bees, as often asserted—in fact it contains much less hydrogen, as will be seen by the following formula from Hess:
—but it is a special secretion for a special purpose, and from its composition, we should conclude that it might be secreted from a purely saccharine diet, and experiment confirms the conclusion. It has been found that bees require about twenty pounds of honey to secrete one of wax.
That nitrogenous food is necessary, as claimed by Langstroth and Neighbour, is not true. Yet, in the active season, when muscular exertion is great, nitrogenous food must be imperatively necessary to supply the waste, and give tone to the body. Some may be desirable even in the quiet of winter. Now, as secretion of wax demands a healthy condition of the bee, it indirectly requires some nitrogenous food.
It is asserted, that to secrete wax, bees need to hang in compact clusters or festoons, in absolute repose. Such quiet would certainly seem conducive to most active secretion. The same food could not go to form wax, and at the same time supply the waste of tissue which ever follows upon muscular activity. The cow, put to hard toil, could not give so much milk. But I find, upon examination, that the bees, even the most aged, while gathering in the honey season, yield up thewax-scales, the same as those within the hive. During the active storing of the past season, especially when comb-building was in rapid progress, I found that nearly every bee taken from the flowers contained the wax-scales of varying sizes in the wax-pockets. By the activity of the bees, these are not infrequently loosed from their position, and fall to the bottom of the hive.
It is probable that wax secretion is not forced upon the bees, but only takes place as required. So the bees, unless wax is demanded, may perform other duties. Whether this secretion is a matter of the bee's will, or whether it is excited by the surrounding conditions without any thought, are questions yet to be settled.
These wax-scales are loosened by the claws, and carried to the mouth by the anterior legs, where they are mixed with saliva, and after the proper kneading by the jaws, in which process it assumes a bright yellow hue—but loses none of its translucency—it is formed into that wonderful and exquisite structure, the comb.
Honey-comb is wonderfully delicate, the wall of a new cell being only about 1-180 of an inch in thickness, and so formed as to combine the greatest strength with the least expense of material and room. It has been a subject of admiration since the earliest time. That the form is a matter of necessity, as some claim—the result of pressure—and not of bee-skill, is not true. The hexagonal form is assumed at the very start of the cells, when there can be no pressure. The wasp builds the same form, though unaided. The assertion that the cells, even the drone and worker-cells, are absolutely uniform and perfect, is also untrue, as a little inspection will convince any one. The late Prof. Wyman proved that an exact hexagonal cell does not exist. He showed that the size varies; so that in a distance of ten worker-cells, there may be a variation of one diameter. And this in natural, not distorted cells. This variation of one-fifth of an inch in ten cells is extreme, but a variation of one-tenth of an inch is common. The sides, as also the angles, are not constant. The rhombic faces forming the bases of the cells also vary.
The bees change from worker (Fig, 28,c) to drone-cells (Fig, 28,a), which are one-fifth larger, and vice versa, notby any system (Fig, 28,b), but simply by enlarging or contracting. It usually takes about four rows to complete the transformation, though the number of deformed cells varies from two to eight.
Fig. 28.Rhombs, Pyramidal Bases,and Gross-sections of Cellsillustrated.Honey-Comb.a—Drone-cells,b—Deformed cells.c—Worker-cells.d d—Queen-cells.
Fig. 28.
The structure of each cell is quite complex, yet full of interest. The base is a triangular pyramid (Fig, 28,e) whose three faces are rhombs, and whose apex forms the very centre of the floor of the cell. From the six free or non-adjacent edges of the three rhombs extend the lateral walls or faces of the cell. The apex of this basal pyramid is a point where the contiguous faces of three cells on the opposite side meet, and form the angles of the bases of three cells on the oppositeside of the comb. Thus, the base of each cell forms one-third of the base of each of three opposite cells. One side thus braces the other, and adds much to the strength of the comb. Each cell, then, is in form of a hexagonal prism, terminating in a flattened triangular pyramid.
The bees usually build several combs at once, and carry forward several cells on each side of each comb, constantly adding to the number, by additions to the edge. Huber first observed the process of comb-building, noticing the bees abstract the wax-scales, carry them to the mouth, add the frothy saliva, and then knead and draw out the yellow ribbons which were fastened to the top of the hive, or added to the comb already commenced.
The diameter of the worker-cells (Fig, 28,c) averages little more than one-fifth of an inch—Réaumur says two and three-fifths lines or twelfths of an inch. While the drone-cells (Fig, 28,a) are a little more than one-fourth of an inch, or, according to Réaumur, three and one-third lines. But this distinguished author was quite wrong when he said: "These are the invariable dimensions of all cells that ever were or ever will be made." The depth of the worker-cells is a little less than half an inch; the drone-cells are slightly extended so as to be a little more than half an inch deep. These cells are often drawn out so as to be an inch long, when used solely as honey receptacles. The capping of the brood-cells is dark, porous, and convex, while that of the honey is white and concave.
The character of the cells, as to size, that is whether they are drone or worker, seems to be determined by the relative abundance of bees and honey. If the bees are abundant and honey needed, or if there is no queen to lay eggs, drone-comb (Fig, 28,a) is invariably built, while if there are few bees, and of course little honey needed, then worker-comb (Fig, 28,c) is almost as invariably formed.
All comb when first formed is clear and transparent. The fact that it is often dark and opaque implies that it has been long used as brood-comb, and the opacity is due to the innumerable thin cocoons which line the cells. These may be separated by dissolving the wax; which may be done by putting it in boiling alcohol. Such comb need not be discarded,for if composed of worker-cells, it is still very valuable for breeding purposes, and should not be destroyed till the cells are too small for longer service, which, will not occur till after many years of use. The function, then, of the wax, is to make comb, and caps for the honey-cells, and, combined with pollen, to form queen-cells (Fig, 28,d) and caps for the brood-cells. (SeeAppendix, page 301).
An ancient Greek author states that in Hymettus the bees tied little pebbles to their legs to hold them down. This fanciful conjecture probably arose from seeing the pollen balls on the bees' legs.
Even such scientists as Réaumur, Bonnet, Swammerdam, and many apiarists of the last century, thought they saw in these pollen-balls the source of wax. But Huber, John Hunter, Duchet, Wildman, and others, noticed the presence and function of the wax-pellets already described, and were aware that the pollen served a different purpose.
This substance, like honey, is not secreted, nor manufactured by the bees, only collected. The bees usually obtain it from the stamens of flowers. But if they gain access to flour when there is no bloom, they will take this in lieu of pollen, in which case the former term used above becomes a misnomer, though usually the bee-bread consists almost wholly of pollen.
As already intimated, the pollen is conveyed in the pollen-baskets (Fig, 22,p) of the posterior legs, to which it is conveyed by the other legs, and compressed into little oval masses. The motions in this conveyance are exceedingly rapid. The bees not infrequently come to the hives, not only with replete pollen-baskets, but with their whole under surface thoroughly dusted. Dissection will also show that the same bee may have her sucking stomach distended with honey. Thus the bees make the most of their opportunities. It is a curious fact, noticed even by Aristotle, that the bees, during any trip, gather only a single kind of pollen, or only gather from one species of bloom. Hence, while different bees may have different colors of pollen, the pellets of bee-bread on any single bee will be uniform in color throughout. It ispossible that the material is more easily collected and compacted when homogeneous.
The pollen is usually deposited in the small or worker cells, and is unloaded by a scraping motion of the posterior legs, the pollen baskets being first lowered into the cells. The bee thus freed, leaves the wheat-like masses thus deposited to be packed by other bees. The cells, which may or may not have the same color of pollen throughout, are never filled quite to the top, and not infrequently the same cell may contain both pollen and honey. Such a condition is easily ascertained by holding the comb between the eye and the sun. If there is no pollen it will be wholly translucent; otherwise there will be opaque patches. A little experience will make this determination easy, even if the comb is old. It is often stated that queenless colonies gather no pollen, but this is not true, though very likely they gather less than they otherwise would. It is probable that pollen, at least when honey is added, contains all the essential elements of animal food. It certainly contains the very important principle, which is not found in honey—nitrogenous material.
The function of bee-bread is to help furnish the brood with proper food. In fact, brood-rearing would be impossible without it. And though it is certainly not essential to the nourishment of the bees when in repose, it still may be so, and unquestionably is, in time of active labor.
This substance, also called bee-glue, is collected as the bees collect pollen, and not made nor secreted. It is the product of various resinous buds, and may be seen to glisten on the opening buds of the hickory and horse-chestnut, where it frequently serves the entomologist by capturing small insects. From such sources, from the oozing gum of various trees, from varnished furniture, and from old propolis about unused hives, that have previously seen service, do the bees secure their glue. Probably the gathering of bees about coffins to collect their glue from the varnish, led to the custom of rapping on the hives to inform the bees, in case of a death in the family, that they might join as mourners. This custom still prevails, as I understand, in some parts of the South.This substance has great adhesive force, and though soft and pliable when warm, becomes very hard and unyielding when cold.
The use of this substance is to cement the combs to their supports, to fill up all rough places inside the hive, to seal up all crevices except the place of exit, which they often contract, and even to cover any foreign substance that cannot be removed. Intruding snails have thus been imprisoned inside the hive. Réaumur found a snail thus encased; Maraldi, a slug similarly entombed; while I have myself observed a bombus, which had been stripped by the bees of wings, hair, etc., in their vain attempts at removal, also encased in this unique style of a sarcophagus, fashioned by the bees.
For those who wish to pursue these interesting subjects more at length, I would recommend the following authors as specially desirable: Kirby and Spence, Introduction to Entomology; Duncan's Transformations of Insects; Packard's Guide to the Study of Insects (American); F. Huber's New Observations on the Natural History of Bees; Bevan on the Honey Bee; Langstroth on the Honey Bee (American); Neighbour on The Apiary.
I have often been asked to recommend such treatises, and I heartily commend all of the above. The first and fourth are now out of print, but can be had by leaving orders at second-hand book-stores.