The Savannah morning news., 1904-11-21
BEES ARE LIKE men
IN MANY WAYS
WARRIORS AND ARCHITECTS
LAVE LANGUAGE OF THEIR OWN
AN ORGANIZED GOVERNMENTS.

E'urce-HOw They Protect Their
Queen and Their Homes.
In point of mental development the
bae stands high. Neither in it's in
srincts nor in general intelligence can
any fish be compared with an ant or
bee." says Romanes The ant is. on
The whole superior in intelligence to
the bee, but in some respects it is the
bees inferior.
The bee has we'll developed facul-
~ for communication. 1t not only
recognizes its fellows, but distinguishes
between men. 1t has. government
and practices division of labor. 1t car
of architects. The aptitude with
which. in diverse circumstances, bees
adapt means to ends, makes it impos-
sible for any one who has closely OBJ
served them to doubt that they are
guided by an intelligence analogous to
that of human beings.
Ruled by IA Queen.
The bee community, says S. D. Nor
gan in the Chicago Tribune, is auto
cratically ruled by queen. Her SUBJ
jects are males, called "drones,' and
sterile females, called workers" AS
soon as the queen has been fertilized
the workers fall upon their indolent
and defenseless brothers, the drones
and sting them to death or throw them
out to perish in the cold. All the la
Dor of the hive, all the fighting inawar,
is done by the workers. The food of
bees consists of honey and "bee
bread" The more nutritious bee bread
has the effect. when fed to a female
larva, of developing it into queen.
Only one queen is required for a hive,
but the far-sighted bees always raise
several. If any accident happens to
the reigning sovereign they then have
other females they can raise to the
throne.
Queen Lays the Eggs.
The eggs are all laid by the queen.
During the season of reproduction the
queen requires so much food that a
dozen or more workers are appointed
to wait upon her. She walks about
the hive, accompanied by her retinue.
and drops an egg in each cell. A high
Iy remarkable thing is that she can
control the sex of her eggs, and al
ways puts worker eggs in worker cells
and drone eggs in drone cells. If so
many larvae hatch out as to over
crowd the hive it is the duty of the
Old queen to lead forth a swarm. The
young queens have to be kept in close
confinement until the old queen de-
parts. for if they were out the old
queen would kill them. Should the
hlVe Still be oVercrowded one of the
young queens leads forth another
swarm. That bees profit by experience
is shown by the fact that before the
Old queen leads forth swarm she
always sends out scouts to reconnoiter
the ground, while young queen never
does.
Queens Kill Each other.
When the swarming season is over,
II there still are two or more queens
IN the nest, they are all liberated at
once, and. while the workers stand
around and apparently cheer them on,
they fight desperately for possession
on the throne until all but one is dead
Huber relates that he once saw two
queens in position simultaneously to
Sung each other to death. They at
once released their grasp as if in hor-
sTor OF situation that might end in
ieaYing the hive queenless.
AS soon as bee arrives at it's hive
with news it emits two or three shrill
notes and taps a comrade with it's
news is transmitted in the same way
lhrough the hive: and If it is of a
starting character. will soon cause a
great buzzing and commotion. T..
muller once saw several workers push
lng the queen in an odd way with
tnelr heads and trying to tell her of
some cells in which she had dropped
no eggs. The queen understood them,
put as she could find no empty cells
Wpnf hue ~
now to advise the queen that some
,,niIlg was as yet to be done, but they
Knew not how to show her where it
mad to be DONE"
Strangers Are killed,
These little insects have effective
means OF protecting their hives against
l.ruders, as many people have good
tause TO know. If strange bee, not a
queen, attempts to enter and is de-
Iected, 1t is speedily surrounded and
stung TO death. When a hive is at
tsacked by the deaths head moth the
uees close the entrance of their hive
o WIN wax and propolis and keep It
ciosed until a season comes when moth
~ thls species are not numerous. Mice
siuss, etc, which get into the hive
are Killed and covered with propoIis
70 ~ prevent their putrefaction, which
TBOuIu make the ingenious insects sick.
5r,eauinur once saw snail enter a hive.
me bees were unable to sting it be-
use or its shell. They therefore fas-
Sosu II to the wall with wax and
eSih and left IL there TO starve.
are strict Sanitarians.
They fully appreciate the Importance
vi keeping pure the air in their hives.
atiu nave a curious and effective meth
va OF ventilating. When the temper
S gets too high a large number Of
. ~gIrhers are told off who station them
;Fes through all parts of the dwell
, us ana by beating rapidly with their
LES produce a draft so strong, ac-
li9Lu.hg TO Huber as to extlnguish a
tiGi a,Jsu match. The practice OF VEN
rno',tls mas been developed under do
fro,.t. % ION. There was no lack of
arS ar IN the cool and roomy caves
ana trunks of trees they Inhabited in
" state of nature.
Iheir Friends and Enemies.
,Nothing more strilxingly evinces the
the'di capacity of bees than the fact
80 20. they learn to distinguish their
ra.'l5,ls from their enemies and the
e1,ullless with which they lend them
s, TO tuition by their keepers. The
10y Is told Of an English beekeeper
,iea Wildman who could at any mo-
,,i,.n, IN some secret way, bring
1I'ie swarm OF bees about his head.
NJ, ESQ had his bees so trained that
fo,'sn commanded TO do 80 they would
ba,ta,hlto companies, regiments and
,Dattalions. Al the word ssnarchi" the
tiPutlan army advanced In good or
yer until told TO halt. The little SOL
ulers were 80 well taught that thev
never stunQ any ~ The r,..... ,.o...i.