Bees, Shown to the Children

No matter how small an insect may be, it is sure to teach us something interesting if we study its habits, and try to find out how the various parts of its body are used. Perhap...

Let us now look at Plate II., where an illustration of a queen bee is to be seen. It will be noticed that her abdomen is much longer than that of the worker or of the drone. Her...

Now a few words about the drone, or male bee, and a picture of him is shown in Plate IV. He is not so big as the queen, though he possesses a more burly appearance. Unlike the q...

On Plate V. is shown an illustration of the worker bee, which is the smallest inhabitant of the hive, but, nevertheless, does the greatest amount of work. We have already seen t...

A microscope, as perhaps you already know, is a sort of strong magnifying glass, being something like a telescope, but on a smaller scale altogether. You may see an illustration...

A bee’s head, as seen with the aid of a microscope, looks very peculiar, but nevertheless it is exceedingly interesting. A photograph of it is shown (_b_) on Plate VI. The head...

Wonderful as all the parts of the bee are, there are none so wonderful as the _antennæ_. This word comes from the Latin, and means horns or feelers, and the antennæ serve many p...

The same tiny head, which carries the marvelous antennæ, is provided with two large “compound” eyes, as they are called. If you are able to examine these eyes with a magnifying...

The tongue of an insect is called the _proboscis_, a Greek word meaning a front feeder, or trunk, and indeed the bee’s tongue is not unlike the trunk of an elephant. Let us glan...

We have seen that the bee possesses maxillæ, or inner jaws, and we are now to consider the outer jaws. On (_a_) Plate IX. is a photograph showing these jaws, which have been sep...

Having now fully considered the head of the bee, we will turn our attention to the _thorax_; this name comes from a Latin word meaning the chest. It is the second, or middle div...

The legs of the bee are not only used for walking but they have also to take the place of hands and arms. They are divided into three pairs, one attached to each division of the...

The first pair of legs, or those nearest the head, are the shortest of all. The most interesting feature about these legs is a little semi-circular notch, and I have made this s...

The third pair of legs are perhaps the most interesting of all. They are the longest, and the hairs for pollen gathering are far more numerous upon them than on the other legs....

Bees belong to a class of insects known as _Hymenoptera_, which means with membranous wings; the wings of the bee are found to be composed of beautifully fine membranes. They ar...

The hinder part of the bee’s body is called the abdomen, and it is here that the stomach is situated. The abdomen is larger than either the head or the thorax, and is joined to...

Insects do not breathe by means of lungs as we do but through tiny air-holes, called “spiracles.” This name comes from the Latin _spiraculum_, meaning an air-hole, which in turn...

We have now only the sting left to consider. I need not tell you what it feels like to be stung, as no doubt a good many of you have had that interesting operation performed upo...

Before we go on to consider the habits of the bees, I think you will be interested to hear something about their early history, and how they used to be kept in bygone ages. Thus...

A hive may with all truth be called a bee-city, for in it there live thousands upon thousands of little workers. In this chapter I hope to tell you about the actual construction...

Let us now imagine that we are to pay a visit to a hive. If we are afraid of stings we may put on thick leather gloves and tie our sleeves around the wrists, to prevent any curi...

The door of the hive, or the city gate as it may be called, always presents a busy spectacle, and Plate XVIII. is a photograph of one. Bees are constantly alighting on the board...

If we watch for a short time at the city gates, we shall very likely see two bees apparently fighting desperately. If we look closely we may see that one of the bees has hold of...

Besides the fanners, the foragers, and the guards, there are other classes of bees at work in the hive. There are, for instance, the scavengers and cleaners-up, whose duty it is...

In order to trace the history of a hive, and to learn about the round of work which goes on day by day, we will suppose that a swarm of bees has been placed in an empty hive. We...

All the time the cells are being built the queen wanders about the hive in a distracted fashion, because there are no cells ready for her to fill. Now that some are ready, howev...

Among most nations it is customary for the kingship to be handed down from father to son, but no such rule exists in the bee-city. Although we call one of the bees the Queen, sh...

Let us now follow one of the pollen-gathering bees on her quest of bee-flour, which is so necessary for feeding the inhabitants of the hive. Having first taken a careful survey...

Some people think that bees gather only honey and pollen, but there is another substance which they collect, and this is called “propolis.” The poplar and pine trees have, as pe...

In this chapter I propose to relate to you the day’s work of a nectar gatherer, or forager. These are perhaps the most important workers in the hive. If you look it up in your d...

During the summer the bees work only with the idea of storing away sufficient honey to last them during the dark days of winter, when there are no flowers. In the tropics, where...

It is not known exactly why bees swarm, and it has been said that it is because the hive becomes overpopulated. When the hive becomes crowded early in the summer, the bees build...

Bee-keepers watch for the issuing of the swarm, and when it occurs they get ready to take it, so as to fill another hive with bees. Having found where the bees are hanging, an e...

After the old queen has left with the swarm, the bees have to decide what to do about a new queen, and the eldest princess is, as we have already seen, clamouring to be set free...

We have already seen that the drones do no work in the hive, nor do they gather nectar or pollen. They live a life of ease, feeding upon the honey gathered by the workers, and i...

In the old days the people did not know where honey came from. Pliny, the great Roman writer, says that it came from the air, and that the stars helped to make it. He tells us,...

We have already seen that straw hives were formerly used to keep bees in. They had many disadvantages, and perhaps the greatest was that sections could not be put on to collect...

Bees have many enemies, apart from robber bees, who try to steal their honey. In winter-time, when pressed by hunger, certain birds come to a bee-hive and commence tapping on th...

Bees have not, so far as we can tell, any system of language such as we have, but it is quite certain that they are able to communicate with one another. Not only can they commu...

Until quite recent times it was not thought that the bees’ visits to flowers were for any other purpose than to gather food for themselves. It is now known, however, that their...

Whilst it is true that plants cannot speak or walk about, yet they live a separate life of their own. They breathe and sleep, feed and digest just as animals do, but in a differ...

From what you have read in the previous chapter you will see that for a flower to be fertilised the pollen must come from another plant. How, then, is this effected, for plants...

A whole volume could be written on the marvellous contrivances of flowers, but we must be content to describe a few. It is a wonderful subject, and one which you yourselves will...

We have now seen something of the contrivances of flowers to aid in their fertilisation, and in this chapter we shall consider the ingenious arrangement some flowers possess to...

Although very much more could be written on this interesting subject, yet there is a limit to all things, and we come now to the end of this little book.