Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1904-04-08
r,t ,,t.e Sks4l MKx
HONEYBEE QUEENS.
THE MANNER IN WHICH THEY AEE
FED BY THE WORKERS.
There Are Numerous Safeguards IN
the rive to Provide Against the
ADMINISTRATION of Poison HOney-f
IL DiGercnd with Hasps.


IL Di.sercnt with Nasps.
The safeguards provided against the
administration Of poison to the despotic
oriental rulers are ruaimentary com
pared with those which stand between
queens of the hGHeybee and such
risk. Curiously enough, this is phase
Of the internal economy of the bee
Live which appears to have escaped
observation.
In the British isles no poisonous
honey is collected. If it exists the bees
have learned to avoid it, Probably
there is meme. as the honey from at
least one dangerous plant, the deAdly
ni.l4tshade. is harmless. Ivy honey
Would be the most suspicious OF any
gathered on Il large scale, and 1t OH.
eXerts. so far as observation goes, Il
slightly laxative effect Ell the digestiHe
organs Although in this country no
poisonous honey is known, it is met
with in other places, notably in Asiatie
Turkey. 1t was in this region that
Aenophon's S soldiers We're poisoned
22.;5e0 Years ago by honey from the
.fze.ia p0ntiea. plant which still
HoHri>heS il Armenia. Some centuries
later Il Roman army suffered similarly.
but less severely, there being no
deatl.s.
Tie pr2caption OF compelling the
cook to es,t a portion of every dish,
which IS the usual safeguard of Ges-
potic ru!e,S, or the still mere primitive
fl;gn Of giving tie first helping to a
little dog, can be eludeu by clever
bof-ia y having only onehalf of
bird or pastry poisoned. In a wasps
nest each f0ra@er on returning pro-
ceets directly to the queen and offers
re:f1$lMcnt. Consequently the queen
is sometimes destroyed by slowly act
ing poison. Further as regards wasps.
1t is observed that when any larvae
not recently fed perceive the queen re-
ceiviag food they become restless. If
nearly grown they Wag their heads in
d suggestive Way, which plainly con-
veyS Il demand for a share. Each
forager after feeding the queen gives
the balance of his load direct to the
nurses.
In the case of the honeybee one pos
sio.e reason why no virulently poison
a;.s honey reaches the hive may be
that the insect foolish enough to COL
iect any would probably die, as the so
called honey sack is really stomach
in which preliminary digestive proc
ess proceeds. This is proved by the
polariscope, which shows that, while
the nectar Of the flowers is pure cane
sugar, or levulose, the substance in the
hive cells is sacrometrically half dex-
trose and half cane sugar. DeXtrose is
invert sugar, coarse variety OF which
is the glucose of commerce. Forager
bees returning to the beehive place the
half dgested product known as honey
in their storeroom with other honey.
This mixing would have the effect of
alternating poisoned load should
such be brought in
Foraging bees never feed the queen
or young larvae, but they give mouth
ful or two to- drones in passing. Just
before sealing for the metamorphosis
workers and drOnes are fed with honey
mixed with pollen. Not so the young
queens, who only get a further supply
of the redigested milky substance
known as chyle, which is the susie
nance Of all larvae indiscriminately dur
ing the first three days of their exist
ence. During the chrysalis stage there
is no feeding. 1t is the business of
gang, distinct for the time being, to ca
ter for the queen and young. They
NIT it to the digestive process referred
to. after which it is regurgitated to
supply the needs of the queen and
young larvT. The attendants are nu-
merous, and each supplies only a mi
mute quantity. The queen bee is so
constituted that her digestive system is
capable of assimilating only the pre-
pared food of chyle. She will die in
few hours on comb containing honey,
although kept at the temperature of
the hive.
Thus ii would appear that the safe
guards are:
first-.A bee collecting poisonous
honey would probably die before
reaching the hive
Seconl.-if enc succeeded in deposit
ing poisoned h0..@5. the circumstance
that it did so Wa&II prove the poison
to be not yirulent, and its mixture
With other honey in the storeroom
would still further attenuate the poi
son and render it harmless. This is
the stage at which the product be-
comes human food. 1t has. as stated
above, occurred that poisoned honey
has passed both these lines of defense.
Third.-Sh0uld the honey be still del
eterious the alimentary attendants of
the queen would first suffer, and only
those bringing wholesome food would
reach her, as a struggle for the priyi-
Iege of feeding her majesty is continu-
ally in progress.
Fourth.-Should the stores pass the
three safeguards before mentioned
there is still another-viz, that each
Of hn