BEE-spoke-data/bees-v0 huggingface dataset:
**59. ''So soon as the bees have loaded these combs, they do not return to the hivc, but transfer the pollen to the hollow sides of the tibia, seen at ti, A. This concavity, copicula, or pollen basket, is smooth and hairless, except at the edges, whence spring long, slender, curved spines, two sets following the line of the bottom and sides of the basket, while a third bends over its front. The concavity fits it to contain pollen, while the marginal hairs greatly increase its possible load, like the sloping stakes which the farmer places round the sides of his waggon when he desires to carry loose hay, the set bent over (see G, Plate 8) accomplishing the purpose of the cords by which he saves his property from being lost on the road. But a difficulty arises: How can the pollen be transferred from the metatarsal comb to the basket above? Easily; for it is the left metatarsus that charges the right basket, and vice versa. The legs are crossed, and the metatarsus naturally serapes its comb-face on the upper edge of the opposite tibia, in the direction from the base of the combs towards their tips. These upper hairs standing over wp, B, or close to ti, A (which are opposite sides of the same joint), are nearly straight, and pass between the comb teeth. The pollen, as removed, is caught by the bent-over hairs, and secured. Each scrap adds to the mass, until the face of the joint is more than covered, and the hairs just embrace the pellet as we see it in the cross-section at G. The worker now hies homewards, and the spine, as a crow-bar, does its work.''--(Cheshire.)
**60.** The four wings, in two pairs, are supported by hollow _nervures_ or ribs, and have a great power of resistance. In flight, the small wings are fastened to the large cnes by small hooks (fig. 14), located on the edge of their outer nervure, that each in a fold of the inner edge of the large
through the mouth and the esophagus, is conveyed into the honey-sack.
**63**. This organ, located in the abdomen, is not larger than a very small pea, and so perfectly transparent as to appear, when filled, of the same color as its contents; it is properly the first stouaeh, and is surrounded by muscles which enable the bee to compress it, and empty its contents through her propose its into the cells. She can also, at will, keep a supply, to be digested, at leisure, when leaving with a swarm (**41S**), or while in the cluster during the cold of winter (**620**), and use it only as fast as necessary. For this purpose, the honey-saek is supplied at its lower extremity, inside, with a round ball, which Burmeister has called the _stomach-mouth_, and which has been beautifully described by Schiemenz (1883). It opens by a complex valve and connects the honey-saek with the digesting-stomach, through a tube or canal, projecting inside the latter. This canal is lined with hairs pointing downward, which prevent the solid food, such as pollen grains, from returning to the honey-sack. Cheshire affirms that this stomach-mouth, which protrudes into the honey-sack, acts as a sort of sieve, and strains the honey from the grains of pollen floating in it, appropriating them for digestion, and allowing the honey to flow back into the saek. The bee could thus, at will, "eat or drink from the mixed diet she carries."
**64.** Aegerding to Schonfeld, (_Illustrierte Biennezitung_) the chyle, or milky food which is used to feed the young, larvae,--and which we have shown to be, most probably, the product of the upper pair of glands (**39-10**),--would be produced from the digesting-stomaeh, which he and others call ehyle-stonaeh. Although we are not competent in the matter, we would remark that the so-called clyle-stomach produces _chymac_, or digested food, from which the _chyle,_ or nourishing constituent, is absorbed by the cell-lining of the stomach and of the intestines, and finally converted into blood. We do not see how this ehyle could be thickened and regurgitated by the stomach to be returned to the mouth.
**65.** In mammals, the ehyliferous vessels do not exist in the stomaeh, but in the intestine, the function of the stomach being only to digest the food by changing it into chyme, from which the chyle is afterwards separated, for the use of the body.
**66.** Again, in the mammals, the glands which produce emailk are composed of small clusters of _acini_, which take their secretions from the blood and empty them into vessels terminating at the surface of the breast. The action of the upper gland (**39**-**40**), in the bee, is exactly similar to the action of those lateeal glands, and the fact that this gland is absent in the queen and in the drone is, to us, positive evidence that the ehylous or lateeal food (given the larvae) is produced by these glands alone, and not by the direct aetion of the digesting-stomaach.
**67**. The food arriving in the stomaach is mixed with the gastrie juice, which helps its transformation, and the undulating motion of the stomach sends it to its lower extremity, toward the intestines. But, before entering into them, the ehyme receives the product of several glands which have been named Malpighian tubes (_e_, fig. 15) from the scientist Malpighi, who was the first to notice them. A grinding motion of the muscles placed at the junction of the stomaach with the intestines, aeting on the grains of pollen not yet sufficiently dissolved, prepares them to yield their assimilable particles to the absorbing cells in the walls of the small intestine. These they go into the large intestine, from which the refuse matter is discharged by the worker-bee, _while on the wing_. We italieize the words, because this faet has considerable bearing on the health of the bees, when confined by cold or other causes, as will be seen further on. (**639**.)
**68. ''The nervous system (fig. 16) of the honey-bee, the seat of sensation and of the understanding, is very interesting. The honey-bee, more perfect in organization than the butterfly, begins as a larva deficient in legs, very much inferior to the caterpillar from which the butterfly proceeds. The drones, although larger than the workers, especially in the head, have a smaller brain. This state of things coincides with the fact that the drones are not intelligent, while no one can refuse gleams of intelligence to the worker-bees, as nurses and builders. ''-- (Girard.)**
**69**. The heart, or organ of the circulation of the blood, formed of five elongated rooms, in the abdomen, is terminatedin the thorax, and in the head, by the aorta, which is not contractible. Each room of the heart presents, on either side, an opening for the returning blood. The blood, "soaking through the body" (Cheslire), comes in contact with the air contained in the tracheal ramifications, where it is arterialized, or in plainer words, renovated, before coming back to the heart.
The bee is not provided with any discernible blood or lymphatic vessels save the aorta, and its blood is colorless.
The breathing organ of the bee is spread through its
Tracheal Bag.
whole body. It is formed of membranous vessels, or tracheae, whose ramifications spread and penetrate into the organs, as the rootlets of a plant sink down into the soil. Connectedwith these, there is, on each side of the abdominal cavity, a large tracheal bag, (fig. 17), variable in form and dimensions, according to the quantity of air that it contains. Bees breathe through holes, or spiraeles, which are placed on each side of the body, and open into the tracheal bags and tracheee.
**71. "The act of respiration consists in the alternate dilatation and contraction of the abdominal segments. By filling, or emptying the air-bags, the bee can change her specific gravity. When a bee is preparing herself for flight, the act of respiration resembles that of birds, under similar circumstances. At the moment of expanding her wings, which is indeed an act of respiration, the spiracles or breathing holes are expanded, and the air, rushing into them, is extended into the whole body, which by the expansion of the air-bags, is enlarged in bulk, and rendered of less specific gravity; so that when the spiracles are closed, at the instant the insect endeavors to make the first stroke with, and raise itself upon, its wings, it is enabled to rise in the air, and sustain a long and powerful flight, with but little muscular exertion." * * * "Newport has shown that the development of heat in insects, just as in vertebrates, depends on the quantity and activity of respiration and the volume of circulation."--(Packard, Salem, 1869.)
**72.** Mr. Cheshire notices that bees, even in full, vigorous youth and strength, are not at all times able to take flight. The reader may have noticed that if they are frightened, or even touched with the finger, they will occasionally move only by slight jumps. This temporary inability to fly, is due to the small quantity of air that their tracheal sacs contain. They were at rest, their blood circulated slowly, their body was comparatively heavy; but when their wings were expanded, the tracheal bags, that were as flat as ribbons, were soon filled with air, and they were ready to take wing.
Praetical Apiarists well know that bees may be shaken off the comb, and gathered up, with a shovel, with a spoon, or even with the hands, to be weighed or measured in open vessels, like seeds. The foregoing remarks give the explanation of this fact.
**73**. When the tracheal bags are filled with air, bees, owing to their peculiar structure, can best discharge the residue contained in their intestines.
The queen is differently formed, her ovaries oceupying part of the space belonging to the air-sacks in the worker, hence her discharges, like those of the drones (**190**), take place in the hive. (**10**.) The queen's air-sacks are much smaller than those of the worker, hence comes a difficulty to take wing.
**74**. "The tracheous bags of the abdomen, which we would be tempted to name abdominal lungs, hold in reserve the air needed to arterialize the blood and to produce muscular strength and heat, in connection with the powerful flight of the insect. Heat is indispensable, to keep up the high temperature of the hive, for the building of comb and rearing of brood. The aerial vesicles increase, by their resonance, the intensity of the humming, and are used also like the valve of a balloon, to slacken or increase the speed of the flight, by the variation of density, according to the quantity or weight, of the air that they contain. This aeenmulatd air is also the means of preventing asphyxy, which the insects resist a long time. Lastly, these air-bags help in the mating of the sexes, which takes place in the air; the swelling of the vesicles being indispensable to the bursting forth of the male organs."--(Girard.)
**75**. The hum that is produced by the vibration of the wings is different in each of the three kinds of inhabitants of the hive, and easily recognizable to a praetieed ear. The hum of the drone is the most sonorous. But worker-bees, when angry or frightened, or when they call each other, emit dif-'ferent and sharper sounds. On the production of these sounds, bee-keepers and entomologists are far from being agreed.
"Inside of every opening of the aerial tubes is a valvular muscle, which helps to control the mechanism of respiration. This can be opened or closed at will, by the bee, to prevent the ingress, or egress, of air. It is by this means that the air is kept in the large tracheous bags and decreases the specific gravity of the insect. The main resonant organ of the bee is placed in front of this stopping muscle, at the entrance of the trachea.
"The humming is not produced solely by the vibrating of the wings, as is generally admitted. Chabrier, Burmcinster, Landois, have discovered in the humming, three different sounds: the first, caused by the vibration of the wings; the second, sharper, by the vibration of the rings of the abdomen; the third, the most intense and acute, produced by a true vocal mechanism, placed at the orifices of the aerial tubes."--(Girard.)
**76**. The bee-keeper who understands the language of bees, can turn it to his advantage. Here are some examples:
"When something seems to irritate the bees, who are in front of a hive, on the alighting-board, they emit a short sound, z-z-z-, jumping at the same time towards the hive. This is a warning. Then they fly and examine the object of their fears, remaining sustained by their wings, near the suspected obj\({}^{\circ}\)t, and emitting at the same time, a distinct and prolonged sound. This is a sign of great suspicion. If the object moves quickly, or otherwise shows hostile intent, the song is changed into a piercing cry for help, in a voee whistling with anger. They dash forward violently and blindly, and try to sting. "When they are quiet and satisfied, their voice is the humming of a grave tune; or, if they do not move their wings, an allegro murmur. If they are suddenly caught or compressed, the sound is one of distress. If a hive is jarred at a time when all the bees are quiet, the mass speedily raise a hum, which causes as suddenly. In a queceless hive, the sound is doful, lasts longer, and at times increase in force. When bees swarm, the tune is clear and giv, showing manifest happiness."--(Cittl-Klauss, 1836.)
**77**. The German pastor Stahala has published a very complete study on the language of bees, which has appeared in some of the bee-papers of Italy, France and America. We do not consider it as altogether accurate; but there are some sounds described that all bee-keepers ought to study, especially the doeful wall of colonies which have lost their queen, and have no means of rearing another.
**78**. The String.--The sting of a bee, a terror to so many, is indispensable to her preservation. Without it, the attraction, which honey presents to man and animals, must have caused the complete destruction of this precious insect, years ago.
**79**. This organ is composed, _1st,_ of a whitish vesicle, or poison sack, about the size of a small unastard seed, located in the abdomen, in which the venomous liquid is stored. This liquid is elaborated in two long canals, similar in appearance to the Malipighian tubes, each of which is terminated at its upper extremity, by a small round bag or enlargement. It is similar to formie acid, although perhaps more poisonous.
**S0**. _2nd,_ In the last ring of the abdomen, and connected with the poison sack, is a firm and sharp sheath, open in its whole length, which supports the sting proper, and acts independently of it. The bee can force this sheath out of the abdomen, or draw it in, at will.
**S1**. _3d,_ The sting is composed of two spears of a polished, ehestnut-colored, horny substance, which, supported by the sheath, make a very sharp weapon. In the aet of stinging, the spears emerge from the sheath, about two-thirds of their length. Between them and on each of them, is a small groove, through which the liquid, coming from the poison-saek, is ejected into the wound.
**S2**. Each spear of the sting has about nine barbs, which are turned back like those of a fish hook, and prevent the sting from being easily withdrawn. When the insect is prepared to sting, one of these spears, having a little longer point than the other, first darts into the flesh, and being fixed by its foremost barb, the other strikes in also, and they alternately penetrate deeper and deeper, till they acquire a firm hold of the flesh with their barbed hooks.
"Meanwhile, the poison is forced to the end of the spears, by much the same process which carries the venom from the tooth of a viper when it bites."--(Girard.)
**S3**. The muscles, though invisible to the eye, are yet strong enough to force the sting, to the depth of one-twelfth of an inch, through the thick skin of a man's hand.
"The action of the sting,"' says Paley, "'affords an example of the union of chemistry and mcchanism; of chemistry, in re-is,' meet to the venom which can produce such powerful effects; of mechanism, as the sting is a compound instrument. The machinery would have been comparatively useless, had it not been for the chemical process by which, in the insect's body, honey is converted into poison; and ou the other hand, the poison would have been ineffectual, without an instrument to wound, and a syringe to inject it.
"Upon examining the edge of a very keen razor by the microscope, it appears as broad as the back of a pretty thick knife, rough, uneven, and full of notehes and furrows, and so far from anything like sharpness, that an instrument as blunt as this seemed to be, would not serve even to cleave wood. An exceedingly small needle being also examined, it resembled a rough iron bar out of a snith's forge. The sting of a bee viewed through the snee instrument, showed everywhere a polish amazingly beautiful, without the least flaw, blemish, or inequality, and ended in a point too fine to be discerned."
**S4**. \(\Delta\)s the extremity of the sting is barbed like an arrow, the bee can seldom withdraw it, if the substance into which she darts it is at all tenacious. A strange peculiarity of the sting and the muscles pertaining to it, is their spasmodie action, which continues quite a while, even after the bee has torn herself away, and has left them attached to the wound. In losing her sting, she often parts with a portion of her intestines, and of necessity soon perishes. Wasps and lornets are different from bees in this respect, for they can sting repeatedly without endangering their lives.
Although bees pay so deariy for the exercise of their patriotic instinets, still, in defense of home and its sered treasures, they
"Deem life itself to vengeance well resign'd, Die in the wound and leave their sting behind."
**S5**. The sting is not, however, always lost. When a bee prepares to sting, she usually curves her abdomen so that she can drive in her sting perpendicularly. To withdraw it, she turns around the wound. This probably rolls up its barbs, so that it comes out more readily. If it had been driven obliquely instead of perpendicularly, as sometimes happens, she could never have extracted it by turning around the wound.
**S6**. Sometimes, only the poison-bag and sting are torn off, then she may live quite a while without them, and strange to say, seems to be more angry than ever, and persists in making useless attempts to sting.
**S7.** If a hive is opened during a Winter day, when the weather does not permit the bees to fly, a great number of them raise their abdonens, and thrust out their stings, in a threatening manner. A minute drop of poison can be seen on their points, some of which is occasionally flirted into eyes of the Apiarist, and causes severe irritation. The odor of this poisou is so strong and peculiar, that it is easily recognized. In warm weather it exeites the bees, and so provokes their anger, that when one has used its sting in one spot on skin or clothes, others are inclined to thrust theirs in the same place.
**S8.** The sting, when aecompanied by the poison-sack, may infliet wounds hours, and even days, after it has been removed, or torn, from the body of the bee. But when buried in honey, its poison is best preserved, for it is very volatile, and when exposed to the air, evaporates in a moment. The stings of bees, which, perehance, may be found in broken conbs of honey, often retain their power, and we have known of a person's being stung in the mouth, by carelessly eating honey in which bees had been buried by the fall of the combs.
Mr. J. R. Bledsoe, in the _American Bee Journal,_ for 1870, writes:
**S9.** ''It may often happen that one or both of the chief parts of the sting are left in the wound, when the sheath is withdrawn, but are rarely perceived, on account of their minutes+; the person stung congratulating himself, at the same time, that the sting has been extracted. I have had occasion to prove this fact repeatedly in my own person and in others. * * The substance of the sting, on account of its nature, is readily dissolved by the fluids of the body, consequently giving irritation as a foreign body for only a short time comparatively. The sting when boiled in water becomes tender and easily crushed.''
For further particulars concerning the sting, we will refer our readers to the chapter entitled 'Handling' Bees,''--(**37S**.)
**90**. Before terminating this comparatively short, but perhaps, to many of our readers, tedious study of the organs of the bee, we desire to commend Messrs. Girard, Packard, Cook, Schiemenz, Dubini, and especially Mr. F. Cheshire, who, by their writings, have helped us in this part of our undertaking. We must add also that the more we study bees, the more persuaded we are that Mr. Packard was right when he wrote:
**91. ''Besides these structural characters as animals, endowed with instinct, and a kind of reason, differing, perhaps, only in degree, from that of man, these insects outrank all the articulates. In the unusual differentiation of the individual into males, females, and sterile workers, and a consequent sub-division of laoor between them; in dwelling in large colonies; in their habits and in their relation to man as domestic animals, subservient to his wants, the bees possess a combination of characters which are not found in any other sub-order of insects, and which rank them first and highest in the insect series.''(''Guide to the Study of Insects.'')**
**92**. One of the especial peculiarities of the hypmenopters is the care most of them give to their progeny. We will show how bees nurse their young. Other insects of the same sub-order construct their nests of clay or paper, or burrow in the wood, or in the earth. All prepare for their young a sufficient supply of food; some of pollen and honey, others of animal substance. Several kinds of wasps provide their nests with living insects, spiders, caterpillars, etc., that they have previously; paralyzed, but without killing them, by piercing them with their stings.
Ants seem to possess even a greater solieitude. When their nests are overthrown, they carry their larvae to some hidden place out of danger.
We have exhibited the use of the organs of bees as a race. We will now examine the character of each of the three kinds of inhabitants of the bee-live.
**93**. Although honey-bees have attracted the attention of naturalists for ages, the sex of the inmates of the bee-hive was, for a long time, a mystery. The ancient authors, having noticed in the hive, a bee, larger than the others, and differently shaped, had called it the "King Bee."
**94**. To our knowledge, it was an English bee-keeper, Butler; who, first among bee-writers, affirmed in 1609, that the King Bee was really a queen, and that he had seen her deposit ears. ("Feninine Monarchy.")
**95**. This discovery seems to have passed unnoticed, for Svanmerdam, who ascertained the sex of bees by dissection, is held as having been the first to proclaim the sex of the queen-bee. (Leyde, 1737.) A brief extract from the celebrated Dr. Boerhaave's Memoir of Swammerdam, showing the ardor of this naturalist, in his study of bees, should put to blush the arrogance of those superficial observers, who are too wise to avail themselves of the knowledge of others:
"This treatise on Bees proved so fatiguing a performance, that Swammerdam never afterwards recovered even the appearance of his former health and vigor. He was most continually engaged by day in making observations, and as constantly by night in recording them by drawings and suitable explanations. "His daily labor began at six in the morning, when the sun afforded him light enough to survey such minute objects; and from that hour till twelve, he continued without interruption, all the while exposed in the open air to the scorching heat of the sun, bareheaded, for fear of intercepting his sight, and his head in a manner dissolving into sweat under the irresistible ardors of that powerful luminary. And if he desisted at noon, it was only because the strength of his eyes was too much weekend by the extraordinary afflux of light, and the use of micro-seopes, to continue any longer upon such small objects.
THE QUEEN.