BEE-spoke-data/bees-v0 huggingface dataset:
In addition to the compound eyes, the bee has three simple eyes, or _ocelli_, as they are termed. They are situated on the upper part of the head between the compound eyes.
The antennae are two slender, many-jointed organs projecting from the front part of the head. Their use has not been fully elucidated. Theyare doubtless sense organs; and it is believed that certain microscopic pits, which occur in great numbers in their cuticle, are the organs of smell. It is possible, also, that the antennae function as organs of touch, certain hairs with which they are furnished being the tactile organs.
The mouth-parts are very complicated. They consist of an upper lip, a lower lip, and two pairs of jaws between the lips.
The upper lip is known at the _labrum_. It is a flap-like projection situated above, or in front of, the other mouth-parts (Plate XXV, \(u\)).
The first pair of jaws, those situated nearest the labrum, are the manlibles (Plate XXV, \(3\), _md_). Each mandible consists of a single hard piece. They are the biting organs. Certain wild bees, distantly related to the honey-bee, dig holes in wood with their mandibles for ncsts for their brood. The honey-bee uses its mandibles as tools for the manipulation of wax and propolis, and as weapons in its combats.
The second pair of jaws, which are situated between the mandibles and the lower lip, are the maxilae (Plate XXV, \(3\), _mx_). Each maxilla is a long blade. The maxilae, combined with the lower lip, constitute what, in popular language, is known as the tongue, the organ by means of which the food is conveyed to the mouth, or the nectar extracted from a flower.
The lower lip, or labium (Plate XXV, \(3\), \(I\)), is the long central part of the so-called tongue; it bears on
each side a long appendage; these are the labial _palpi_ (Plate XXV, 3, \(p\)).
_The thorax.--_The thorax is the central region of the body. It consists of three body-segments, which are grown together so compactly in the adult insect that it is difficult to distinguish them. The thorax bears the organs of locomotion, the wings and the legs.
There are two pairs of wings; but the two wings of each side are so closely united that they appear as one. The union is accomplished by a row of hooks on the front edge of the hind wing, which fasten into a fold in the hind edge of the fore wing. The wings are strengthened by a framework of heavy lines, which extend in various but definite directions. Between these lines the wing is a thin membrane.
There are three pairs of legs, a pair borne by each of the three body-segments of which the thorax is composed.
Each leg consists of nine segments and a pair of claws at the tip of the last segment. The first two segments, the eaca and the _trochanter,_ are short; then follow the two principal segments, the _femur,_ or thigh, and the _tibia_, or slank; the five remaining segments constitute the _tarous_ or foot. A striking peculiarity in the _tarsi_ of bees is that the first segment differs greatly in form from the other segments and is much larger, approaching the _tibia_ in size. This enlarged tarsal segment has received the special name of _mettarsus._
The legs serve several functions besides that of locomotion. Thus, on each fore leg there is an organ for cleaning the antennae. The antenna cleaner consists of a circular notch near the base of the _metatarsus_, which is furnished with teeth like a comb (Plate VII, F, \(a\)), and a spur projecting back from the _tibia_ in such a way as to close this notch when the leg is bent. The antenna to be cleaned is drawn through this notch and thus the dirt is combed from it.
On the middle legs there is a strong spur at the distal end of the _tibia_ which is used in loosing the pellets of pollen brought to the hive on the hind legs.
The third pair of legs are furnished with three organs which deserve mention here. _First:_ the wax pincers. Both the _tibia_ and the _metatarsus_ are wide; the joint uniting them is at one edge, hence by alternately bending and straightening the leg at this joint, the space between the two segments (Plate VII, B, _wp_) is opened and shut like pincers. This organ is used to loosen from the aldomen the scales of wax. _Second:_ the pollen-combs. These are several comb-like series of spines, borne on the inner surface of the _metatarsus_ (Plate VII, B, _pe_). When a bee visits a flower the pollen is gathered by the tongue and fore legs and some of it becomes entangled among the hairs on the thorax. It is then combed from these parts by means of the pollen-combs and transferred to the pollen-baskets. _Third:_ the pollen-basket. There is a pollen-basket on the outer surface of the _tibia_ of each hind leg. It consists of a fringe of hairs, surrounding a smooth, concave area which occupies the greater part of the outer face of this segment of the leg. In it the pollen is packed when combined from the hairs, and transported to the hive.
_The abdomen.--_The abdomen is the last of the three regions of the body. It consists of a series of comparatively simple, overlapping segments, without conspicuous appendages.
## II internal anatomy
_Relative position of the internal organs.--_As has been shown in the preceding pages, the body-wall serves as a skeleton, being hard and giving support to the other organs of the body, which are contained within it.
The accompanying diagram (Plate XXV, 1), which represents a vertical longitudinal section of the body of the larva of an insect, will enable the reader to gain an idea of the relative positions of some of the more important organs. The parts shown in the diagram are the following: The body-wall or skeleton (_s_); this is made up of a series of overlapping segments; that part of it which is between the segments is thinner, and is not hardened, this remaining flexible and allowing for the movements of the body. Just within the body-wall, and attached to it, are represented a few of the muscles (_m_); it will be seen that these muscles are so arranged that the contraction of those on the lower side of the body would bend it down, while the contraction of those on the opposite side would act in the opposite direction. The aimentary canal (_a_) occupies the centre of the body and extends from one end to the other. 'The heart (_k_) is a tube open at both ends, and lying between the alimentary canal and the muscles of the back.
The central part of the nervous system (_n_) is a series of small masses of nervous matter, connected by two longitudinal chords; one of these masses, the brain, lies above the alimentary canal; the others are situated, one in each segment, between the alimentary canal and the ventral wall of the body; the two chords connecting these masses, or ganglia, pass one on each side of the cesophagus to the brain. The reproductive organs (_r_) lie in the cavity of the abdomen and open near the hind end of the body. The respiratory organs are omitted from this diagram for the sake of simplicity.
_The respiratory system.--_The most striking peculiarity in the structure of insects is the form of their organs for breathing, for they do not breathe through the mouth as we do. If an insect be carefully examined, there can be found along the sides of the body, a series of openings; these are the openings through which the air passes into the respiratory system, and are termed spiracles. The spiracles of the honey-bee are small, and are not easily found by one not trained to look for such things; but if the reader will examine the sides of one of our larger caterpillars, he will have no trouble in seeing them. Typically, there is a pair of spiracles, one on each side of the body, in each of the body-segments, but they are lacking in the head and in some of the other segments. The spiracles lend into a sys
Fig. 4, 3) are situated in the thorax; their outlets unite into a common duct, which joins the ducts from the postcereb glands, the two systems of glands opening through a common opening.
The mandibular glands or system IV. are two small glands one on each side opening at the base of the mandible.
There has been much discussion regarding the function of these different glands; and even now any statement of conclusions must be regarded as provisional.
The supracereb glands are large in nurse bees and shrunken in the old bees that no longer nurse the brood; they are normally found only in the workers. It is therefore believed that they secrete the milky food, commonly called royal jelly, which is fed to all larvae during the first days of their development, to the queen larvae throughout their development, and to the adult queen during the egg-laying period. The food fed worker and drone larvae during the latter part of their development is produced in the chyle-stomach of the nurse bees, and is semi-digested food.
The other systems of glands enumerated above produce the saliva, which is supposed to perform a great variety of functions. "It helps the digestion; it changes the chemical condition of the nectar harvested from the flowers; it helps to knead the scales of wax of which the combs are built, and perhaps the propolis with which the hives are varnished. It is used also to dilute the honey when too thick, to moisten the pollen grains, to wash the hairs when daubed with honey, etc."
The wax-glands are found only in the worker. There are four pairs of them. They are situated on the ventral wall of the second, third, fourth and fifth abdominal segments, and on that part of the segment which is overlapped by the preceding segment. Each gland is simply a disc-like area of the hypodermis, the cells of which take nonrishment from the blood and transform it into wax. The cuticle covering each gland is smooth and delicate, and is known as a wax-plate. The wax exudes through these plates and accumulates, forming little scales. (Plate VI, X, also Plate XXV, Fig. 5.)
_The altimentary canal.--_The form of the altimentary canal of the adult honey-bee is shown in Plate XXVI. The following parts can easily be recognised: the oesophagus, a slender tube, beginning at the mouth and extending through the head and thorax to the base of the abdomen. Here there is a sac-like enlargement of the canal, which is termed the honey-stomach; it is in this that the nectar accumulates as it is collected by the bee, and is carried to the hive. Behind the honey-stomach lies the true stomach, the chief digestive organ. Closely applied to the true stomach are several small tubes, which open into it; which are known as the Malpighian tubes; they were named after one of the early anatomists who described them; they are the urinary organs. Next to the true stomach is the small intestine; and behind this, the large intestine.
The'reproductive organs.--The internal reproductive organs are situated in the abdomen; there is a set on each side, but the two sets open by a common duct, whose outlet is at the hind end of the body.
The reproductive organs of the female are shown on Plate XXVI (\(a\)), Fig. 1. There are two ovaries (\(o\)), one on each side of the body. Each ovary consists of a large number of parallel egg-tubes, within which the eggs are developed. The egg-tubes of each ovary open into an oviduct (\(od\)). The two oviducts unite and form a single tube on the middle line of the body; this is the _vagina_; the _vagina_ leads to the external opening of the system. Communicating with the _vagina_, there is a sac-like pouch, the _spermatheca_, which is the reservoir for the seminal fluid; this is filled at the time of pairing, and the _spermatozoa_ may remain alive in it for several years.
Each egg-tube produces many eggs. As the eggs increase in size, they pass towards the oviduct. When the egg is fully developed a shell is formed about it. This shell has a minute opening through it at one end; this is the microple. At the time the egg is laid a _spervatozoon_ may pass from the _spermatheca_, where thousands of them are stored, into the egg through the micropyle, and thus the egg is fertilised.
With most animals, the egg must be fertilised in order that it may develop. But with bees, both fertilised and unfertilised eggs develop, the former into females, that is, workers or queens, the latter into males, that is, drones.
**P.IATE XXVI. (a,) The respective organs of the honey.bee. (From Leuckart, slightly modified.) Fig. 1.--Respeductive organs of a queen ; \(o\), \(o\), \(o\), ovaries ; \(sd\), evident ; \(s\), spontaneous ; \(s\), gland ; \(s\), poison sac connected with the string. Fig. 2.--Reproductive organs of a drone ; \(d\), \(t\), testes ; \(p\), vas defens ; \(s\), \(s\), seminal sacs ; \(m\), m, mucous glands ; \(sd\), elaulatory duct ; \(d\), pouch or bulb. The bulb and the following parts are everced through the outer opening at the time of pairing.**
**P.IATE XXVI. (\(d\),) Fig. 1.--The internal anatomy of the honey-bee (after Cheshire). \(o\), crosophagues, \(a\), honey sac ; \(p\), stomach-mouth ; \(cs\), true stomach or chive-somesh ; \(m\), malignant tubes ; \(sd\), small intestine ; \(d\), large intestine, \(d\), heart or dorsal ; vessel ; \(s\), central nervous system ; \(s\), unsuccessful glands ; \(s\), postcerebral glands ; \(s\), thoracic glands. The respiratory system and the reproductive organs are not shown in this figure (after Cheshire). Fig. 2.--The respiratory system of the honey-b.c. \(s_{x}s_{y}s_
Closely associated with the reproductive organs of the female is the sting; this is a barbed dart connected with a poison gland, whose use is well known.
In the abdomen of the male there is a pair of organs, the testes, in which the _spermatozoa_ are developed. These correspond in position to the ovaries of the female, but are much smaller. From each testis there extends a tube corresponding to the oviduct, this is the _vas deferens_. The two _vasa deferentia_ unite and form the single ejaculator duct. Each _vas deferens_ is enlarged just before it joins the ejaculatory duct, forming a reservoir for the accumulation of _spermatozoa_; these reservoirs are termed the seminal sacs.
Appended to each seminal sac there is a large glandular sac, which adds mucus to the seminal fluid. Near the outer end of the ejaculatory duct there is a pouchlike enlargement into which the _spermatozoa_ pass. Here they are massed into a compact body, known as the spermatophore, which is transferred to the female at the time of pairing. 'The terminal part of the reproductive organs of the male, the intermittent organ, has several appendages, which are firmly grasped in the opening of the reproductive organs of the female and are torn from the male when the two pairing individuals separate. This causes the death of the male.
The male has no sting.
(Plate XXVI, Fig. 2.)
## Chapter XVIII
Interrelation of bees and plants inonet-flowers
The facts revealed by science are not always beautiful, however interesting they may be. But the discovery of the interrelation of flowers and insects, that partnership which has existed so long that it has modified both partners, seems to belong to the realm of art or poetry rather than to that of science. Since plants must needs spend their lives where they are developed from seeds, they may not roam abroad like animals to seek their mates. But this is a difficulty which they readily overcome, through sending their messages by the uneasy, flying insects; and of all these messengers, the bee is surely the flowers' favourite. Its fuzzy body, admirably adapted to be a pollen brush, its swift wings and its sedulous attention to business, all tend to make it the most important of the flower-partners. Thus, especially for the bee, have thousands of flower species developed nectar, in pockets placed cunningly to entice her to take upon herself a pollen load. And for countless ages the flowers have painted their petals various hues and shed on the atmosphere their perfume, to advertise to the bee-world that they had pollen and nectar to spare.
This partnership has naturally modified the insects less than the flowers, as the latter were obliged to develop innumerable devices for winning attention from their messengers; naturally also the insects have been more largely modified in their mouth-parts and appliances for carrying pollen, than in other directions. Their habits have also been modified in a measure, and the bee has in some mysterious way been persuaded to work on one kind of blossom at a time. 'The poetic reproach that the bee is a heartless rover, riling the lily of sweets only to desert her for the rose, is as unjust as it is untrue. Repeatedly have we watched a bee at work in a bed of pinks. Though clover and other blossoms were near by, she passed methodically from pink to pink, and naught tempted her to fickleness. That the bees use pollen for bread, is a part of the bargain; for the flowers grow it in plenty for both themselves and their partners.
Each species of "'honey-plant" has developed its own special device for securing the services of bees to carry its pollen; and no study is more interesting than the unravelling of these flower secrets. Even the novice may do this by asking the flower these three questions: "Where is your nectar?" "Where is your pollen?" "What is the path the bees must follow to get to the nectar?" For ready and accurate answers to such questions, the flowers are not to be surpassed; and if there is any doubtful point, the bees are ready to help elucidate it. There are so many flowers that have become the special part ners of the bees that it is not within the scope of this book to make an adequate list. Some of the more important are the flowers of trees, and some of farm crops; some bloom in gardens and some are mere weeds.
Fruit trees, when in blossom, give much pollen and honey at a time when these are greatly needed by the bees for rearing brood.
Peach, pear, apricot, plum and especially apple trees, when in bloom are encompassed about with the happy chorus of busy and gruteful bees; and no other creatures can so successfully vocalise blissful contentment as they. Many careful experiments have proved beyond doubt that the help of bees is necessary for securing the pollination requisite to produce good crops of fruit. The wise and successful fruit-grower recognises this fact and, mindful of his true interests, does not spray his fruit trees with poisons while they are in blossom, lest he thereby kill his friends, the bees. Moreover, to use arsenical sprays, at such a time, is injurious to the petals and the fruit-producing organs of the flowers; and it is also too early to spray successfully against the codlin moth. In many states, legislation forbids the spraying of poisons during fruit-tree bloom, because it is a useless and wanton destruction of the bees.
Some time since great injustice was done the bees through the accusation that they punctured the ripe fruit for the sake of the juices. This was the special complaint of grape-growers. Investigations have proved that bees never puncture the rind of ripe fruit, although they sometimes are tempted to sip the oozing juices, after the rind is broken through some other agency.
Even before the fruit-hloom the willows offer a feast to break the fast of the hungry swarms. Half the winter the pussy-willow stands waiting in her furs to be ready with her grist of pollen, so that the bees may make bread during the first warm days of spring. The willows burned their bridges behind them eons ago and depend almost entirely upon the bees for fertilisation, since they are dioccious. Some aparists have claimed that their bees get no nectar from certain species of willow; but this could hardly be so if trees of both sexes were present in a locality; for the staminate flowers offer pollen and the pistillate flowers give nectar to induce the bees to fetch and carry for them.
The maples are not much behind the willows in offering the bees food after their winter fast. The bloom of the red maple is regarded by most beekeepers as permission from Spring to bring out the bee-hives from the cellar and tenements. All our common species of maple are very much visited by the bees.
The locusts often yield large crops of honey, although they vary with the seasons in this respect. Honey-locust, when in bloom, is covered with bees.
The tulip tree is one of the most beautiful of our oramental trees and it gives a great amount of dark, rich honey. In New York it blossoms in May and June and, like the locusts, is a great help to the bees after the fruit-bloom is over. This is a common tree in the woods of the South and is not rare in Northern forests. It should be planted even more generally than it is at present, for the sake of the bees.
The basswood, of all honey-producing trees, is the most important and most beloved by the bees. It blooms in July and only for a brief season; therefore, it is important that the colonies be strong and able to make the most of these few precious days of harvest. Basswood honey has a strong flavour when first gathered. But after it is ripened and sealed it has a delightful flavour. The way our forests have been stripped of basswood during the past twenty-five years is nothing less than heart-rending to the bee-keeper; for to him this tree ranks next to the white clover in importance. Mr. Root had a single colony take forty-three pounds of honey in three days from basswood, and Mr. Doolittle had a colony take sixty pounds in the same period. The tree is beautiful, and might well be used for shade along roadsides and also in ornamental planting. It grows rapidly; young trees, transplanted from the woodland, blossom in five or six years thereafter. No bee-keeper should allow the basswood to be cut on his premises; and he should grow as many young trees as possible. "
Other honey-producing trees of note are the sour wood (_Oxydendrum arborem_) of the South, the guajilla of Texas, the cabbage palmetto of Florida, and the eucalyptus of California.
The flowers of sumac often yield much nectar and are sedulously worked by the bees. This picturesque shrub is not properly appreciated because it is so common. Its foliage is beautiful in the summer and is brilliant in the fall. Its blossoms, as well as its fruit, conduce to make it an interesting and ornamental shrub for planting.
honey plants which yield other valuable crops
To raise plants solely for the sake of the honey they produce has not proved a financial success so far in America. Mr. Root estimates that it would require 500 acres covered with plants blooming in succession to keep 100 colonies of bees busy; and, at present, most land here is worth too much to be put to such use. It is doubtful if artificial pasturage will ever prove a paying investment in agricultural sections.
However, many apiarists devote some land to honey-gardens, and such a garden may be a beautiful and interesting place, for many of the honey-plants are ornamental. Also, many apiarists have introduced certain honey-weeds on waste land in the vicinity of their apiaries with excellent results.
Fortunately, many plants very valuable to the agricultural and horticultural are the best honey-producers; and if a farmer has only twenty coloniesof bees, it will pay him to reap one crop from his land and let his bees reap another.
Of all such plants the clovers are the most important. Not only do they make the best of forage and hay, but they also help to fertilise and arate the soil, and should be a factor in every crop rotation. Clovers and other _legumes_ have upon their roots nodules filled with bacteria, which are underground partners of the plant. These bacteria fix the free nitrogen of the air and leave it in the soil available for plant food. Red clover-is not so great a source of honey as are the other clovers, since its corolla tubes are so long that usually it is only worked by bumblebees. But the long-tongued Italians are able to get considerable honey from red clover at times.
Crimson clover grew as a weed for a long time in America before it became an important factor in horticulture. It is an annual and its home is in southern Europe. It thrives best in loose, sandy soils and is of great value as a cover crop for orchards. It is a good honey-plant.