| Show foil OUR YOUNG FOLKS THE BUSY BEE II 11 Maui irr or ill the ul beuce 11 truly abu little is wonder lully majc take for instance tho feet of the working bac at one and iho annio timo they exhibit i brush 1 basket anil a bair 0 pin cen ono of the articles is a brush of extreme line ass the being arranged in symmetrical rows winch arc only to be seen with the microscope with alili brush delicacy tho bee continually t brown velvet robe to remove the pollen dut with which it heroines loaded while rilling the llewera of nectar another of that iho bac amen about is like a lioon and receives all the Klea ninga thu iucci carrica to the lm it is really i sort of for and then by opening them ono upon another by menus of 1 hinge two become a pair of pincers render important service in alio construction of tho comb and it is with them hat the bee lays hold of tho semicircle of wax below lier abdomen and carries ahrin to her mouth moistening it st the tongue into a kind of paste and drawing it out like a ribbon bho then uses to planter tho top ot alic hive she lias echt of taco little wax pockets and et eno uses them all another bee will take her panco and po through the sanio elio is done until a large fiill of wax lias been built up but a yet the cells are not in ron could not guess how alio cells arc made and I 1 do not believe eliat yon or I 1 would have thought af so input ous n contrivance alio anra ui bees prepare them and in aliis way ono begins by forcing the head aiuto alic wax biting it with alic jaw like pinc cra and moving the licad lu and fro rapidly very soon alio beginning of a round hollow is made and then passing on is alic second aco takes alio 0 aliu first and enlarges upon alio llio work As many as twenty bac ono after the other work upon each cell before it ia large enough to uc another set of bees am working upon the other side of these cell back to back attlio same toiuo nil over the comb and eoon a number of frix sided tubes halt an inch deep along side of the comb ready to receive honey or bee eggs and how closely they lit the clover little bees filling every atom of space using alio leaca quantity and making thu cells lio so warm when the young bees and when yon think of these bee cilke having a population of from fifteen to twenty thousand inhabitants and that each house has to bo made for its particular owner evenly and regularly built as they arc atwon derfl from to sunset if the weather is not stormy all is burtlo and activity in una busy city and though alic gates aro BO narrow that only ono of thu inhabitants can paa at a tune yet they go in and out every hour all jay long thousand of them bring food or provisions to storo for winter or ma for new apartments and there is not alio ecat confusion or disorder among them one queen reigns over the whole of this numerous and is the of the lure and you might think so inacy subjects aliu would bo very idle hut not she has her own especial to perform and works aa hn d Us any of alio real in performing bliem when tho cells are ready iho goes from one to another without feidt depositing her eggs laying about two biily iho lart laid arv those of alio win kern and in the the larger drone cernaro being made the proportion of tho aul being about one in thirty it any accident banim canim on the queen they instinctively know enough af the springs of life to create aln a new queen in this wise at the cago of one of ho combs you will fo them heap ap ample materials and conrail conr nil a babl royal cell fully or lifty times as large and weighty is the after eliat they bear away workwoman from arr narrow cell and her in this filacc busl MS oon astha installed lu abode alio nurses now full of load her with more and sweeter bee bread and under the of aliis ambrogi amb roii the larva which filled KO humbar u u fully developed queen nt this a wonderful act of intelligence on the part of I 1 ini blei I 1 hiie ant to have told you ot alio llio mechanism of thu avo st sling in speaking of its tools lirah basket and pinc arii and it is io formidable i weapon the females anil working bees alie males and drones being I 1 c ui not civo you some of their exhibitions of wisdom onlest I 1 speak of it here this weapon conisa of i inclosing two ahamed darts of exceeding fineness hidu by aide towards tho point they arc anard with leella like of n caw it happens thai the bee il limes unable to withdraw little javelin from the enemy it haw for so powerful 1 the impetus of tlc alc that it will pierce oven thick human skin tho twelfth of un inch deep the makes tb wound tho poison is in from the bag near lt base thu structure ami proc being identical with thice of lie fangs of thu serpent now nie liow it borka an enemy little to be dreaded into 1 hive of llast anti belg that it pierce it with their and in tho twinkling of un eo thu bead body ix lord out alic work of the hive not being for a tingle moment hut if the intruder bo a big barong aug or worm all the arc thrown into a tato of agitation chev rally around it and clerca the mit my with a hundred blengs but what is to bo done with 0 o heavy a body the little feet of all tho anbo would not to clr it and the narrow door of jbf hive would not allow it to paa U tacy could ats putrid I 1 odora would soon infect the colony aoa develop some malady then how are they to escape from thia danger alio community take counsel and come to nali a determination a alicy would leavo done it limy lad been thoroughly geracd in one of tho arts ol 01 egypt embalming and together they set to work to embalm iho dead ani mill ol 01 which sn their hive id so obnoxious to lor this purpose alio workers themselves over iho country and gather nil the resinous matter chuy can find which clings to the buds for this is what lakes the of tho essences and acoca used oy tho undertakers of alio nile tho awa then body this in the form of leta and deposit all around it a thick solid layer which preserves it from putrefaction sometimes tho same bees display if not ai a i art a good deal of linesse lines sc I 1 or instead of a soil slug into which they can drive their sting a snail invades iho sanctity of their domain tho swarup soon find out that their stings arc useless against his armor if you could look into lie hive you would i funny sight the bees holding A council of war in tho greatest agitation talking with each by mcana of their just a alio llio auli do what is to bo done at lasit they devise a method more cunning than that of many n general tho workers throng about tho shell and eluo it fiill to tho hive by abo deposit of a cement of resinous matter so tho snail dies in his lair for ho can not c this action of the beca ha often been watched though it really incredible so wo see that tho active independent busy beo lias her own appointed work tu do and does it in an orderly maii ncr and regularly too and with good awn how marvellously her guide her in her daily life might be written about the wonderful structure of the comb and the foresight and intelligence shown by this mihall insect in even department of hive lifo vr U jah in N r observer |
