Evening star., 1932-06-03
BEES DIET BRINGS
FAST WEIGHT JUMP
Official Tells AS
tonishing New Facts About
Busy Insect.
BY THOMAS r. HENRY.

If human baby grew like bee it
would weigh close to 4 tons the first
week. If it happened to be a specially
favored girl baby. however, it would tip
the nursery scales at a little less than
tons
A bee never stings in self-defense, be-
cause it is equivalent to suicide. 1t
makes the supreme sacrifice only in de-
fense of the hive.
The queen bee can control absolutely
the sex of her offspring-laying as she
desires some eggs that will hatch fe-
males and others that will hatch males.
Can Breed Insects.
For the first time it has become pos
sible to "artificially breed " bees. thus
opening the way to enormous improve
ments in the domestic stock.
These were among the recently dis
covered facts revealed to the Entomo-
logical Society of Washington at a
meeting at the Department of Agricul-
ture bee laboratory at Somerset. Md,
last night, by James l. Hambleton. head
of the laboratory. During the past few
months, it was explained, very great
progress has been made toward an un-
derstanding of the life of this insect
activities.
The prodigious growth of the larva
is one of the latest findings. When
this is Matched it is fed with sub
stance known as royal jelly" which
exudes from the heads of the young
worker bee. This feeding is continued
for week and the baby increases in
weight 1,200-fold Part Of this growth,
Mr.. Hambleton said. undoubtedly is due
to the extraordinary food value of the
royal jelly. which serves as milk for the
bee babies. A compound of carbo-
hydrates, fats and proteins, it appears
to be the most perfect food known to
man.
Must Check Growth.
The growth is so extreme that it has
to be checked. After the week of in
tensive feeding the larvae is sealed up
in a silken bag as pupa. From this
state, in which it receives no nourish-
ment, it emerges after 81 days as a
worker bee, able to fend for itself. For
a few days, Hambleton said, the worker
is confined entirely to "housework." 1t
exudes the royal jelly to feed other
larvae and is busted with necessary
tasks about the hive. Then 1t is al
lowed to go out in search Of honey and
continues during its lifetime OF about
six weeks as field bee.
The queen bee differs radically from
all other bees. She has different legs,
head. eyes. jaws and internal organs,
yet at the beginning she is no different
from any of the other female larvae
which develops into workers Sclen-
lists at the bee laboratory have been
trying to determine the reason for this
and can find no other explanation eX-
cept that she is given richer diet.
She is fed intensively during her en-
tire larval existence. AS result she
increases in weight 2,500-fold In flve
days. Her life as pupa is cut short
to Is days. The system by which some
particular bee is picked as a queen is
unknown.
In a sense, Mr. Hambleton explained
such extraordinary results are possible
| because the bees know" the science OF
dietetics, in the narrow field which ap-
plies to themselves, better than do hu-
man beings. Some day it may be pos
sible to produce comparatively startling
results in human beings by means OF
diet alone.
Queen Seldom Stings.
The bee laboratory entomologists have
| watched carefully the singing habits
of bees. The worker bee has barbed
sting. When it is withdrawn from her
victim, her internal organs are Sc
| wrenched that it is certain death. Why
| should she commit suicide for passing
whim? The conclusion Is that she
| doesn't. The lone bee never strings
| but will die without seconds heslta-
| ton If the hive is threatened. The
only exception, Hambleton explained, Is
when she is actually picked up and
squeezed in the fingers. This seems tc
release nervous impulses which oVerrule
! her ordinary good sense.
The queen bee, however, can sting all
she pleases with perfect immunity, be-
cause there is no barb on her stinger
She is, however, exceptionally peaceful
f, leaving the defense of the hive to the
workers. The only exception Is when
another queen invades her territory
Then it is fight to the death.
The bumblebee, Hambleton pointed
out, is becoming very scarce, so that
fruit growers are obliged to use honey
bees to pollenize the blossoms of theil
orchards This represents an entirely
new departure in the bee industry. The
honey obtained in this way Is useless
| practically all that is salable in this
locality being obtained from the tulip
tree blossoms
| A method is being worked out at the
| Somerset laboratory, he said, by which
eggs can be artiflciallv fertiliZed so thai
| the domestic bee breeds of the future
can be developed in the same way al
other sorts of i've stock instead of being
| left m