Evening journal., 1904-03-18
HOW HONEY BEE
QUEENS ARE FED
There Are Many Safeg yards
to Provide Against
Poisoned Honey
II is DIFFERENT WITH WASPS

The safeguards provided against the
administration Of poison to the despotic
oriental rulers are rudimentary COM
pared with those which stand between
queens Of the honeybee and such
risk. Curiously enough, this is a phase
Of the internal economy Of the bee
hive which appears to have escaped
observation.
In the British isles no poisonous
honey Is collected. III Il exists the bees
have learned TO avoid It. Probably
there is none, as the honey from at
least one dangerous plant, the deadly
nightshnde. is harmless. Ivy honey
would be the most suspicious Of any
gathered on large scale, and Il only
exerts, so far as observation goes, a
slightly laxative effect on the digestive
organs. Although In this country no
poisonous honey is known, 1t is met
with in other places, notably IN AsiaEc
Turkey. II was In this region that
Xenophon's soldiers were poisoned
$500 years ago by honey from the
Azella pontlca, a plant which still
nourishes In Armenia. Some centuries
later a Roman army suffered similarly.
but less severely, there being no
deaths.
The precauton Of compelling the
cook 10 eat a portion OF every dish.
which is the usual safeguard Of des-
potic rulers. or the still more primitive
plan OF giving the first helping to a
little dog, can be eluded by a clever
Borgia by having only one-half of q
bird or pastry poisoned. In q wasps
nest each forager on returning pro
ceeds directly to the queen and offers
refreshment. Consequently the queen
is sometimes destroyed by slowly act
Ing poison Further MS regards wasps.
II Is observed that when any larvm
not recently Ted perceive the queen re-
ceiving food they become restless. II
nearly grown they wag their heads in
suggestive way, which plainly con.
veys a demand for 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.
slble reason why no virulently poison
GUS honey reaches the hive may be
that the insect foolish enough 10 col
lect any would probably die, as the So
called honey sack a really a stomach
IN which preliminary digestive proc
ess proceeds. This Is proved by the
polarlscope 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. a coarse variety Of whicl
is the glucose Of commerce. Foragel
bees returning to the beehive place the
half digestcd product known as honey
In their storeroonr with other honey
This mixing would have the effect OF
ittenuatlng poisoned load should
uch be brought in
Foraging bees never feed the queen
IT young larvR, but they give a mouth
;u 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
1f the redigested milky substance
known ns chyle, which is the susie
nance OF all larv9 indiscrimlnately dur
ng the first three days Of their exist
nee. During the chrysalis stage there
Is no feeding. 1t is the business OF a
gang, distinct for the time being, TO ca
er for the queen and young. They
1 a }.
NIT It to the digestive process referred
to. after which It is regurgitated to
upply the needs OF the queen and
young larvae. The attendants are nu-
merous. and each supplies only a mi
mute quantity. The queen bee is 30
constituted that her digestive system is
capable Of assimilating only the pre-
pared food Of chyle She will die In a
few hours on comb containing honey,
although kept at the temperature of
the hive
Thus it would appear that the safe
guards are:
First.-A bee collecting poisonous
honey would probably die before
reaching the hive.
Second.-If one succeeded In deposit
ing poisoned honey, the circumstance
that It did so would prove the poison
TO be not virulent, and its mixture
with other honey in the storeroom
would still further alternate the poi
son and render Il harmless This is
the stage at which the product be-
comes human food. II has, as stated
above. occurred that poisoned honey
has passed both these lines Of defense.
Third.-should 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 privi-
lege 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
one Of the queens attendants feeds
her only for a second at a time, and
thus she would never get n sufficient
quantity TO affect her seriously. The
queen Is always on the move and the
competition to feed her so great that
she is continually bringing fresh bees
in front Of her, from which position
alone food can be administered. No
worker bee would think Of jostling
every one gives way TO the queen.
Uneasy monarchs and others may
find some suggestions In these ar
| rangements for securing their safety