July 1967 School Magazine

Brisbane Girls' Grammar School Magazine

Brisbane Girls' Grammar School Magazine

JulV; 1967

July, 1967

checkered with blossoms of many kinds of plants, each individual bee remains faithful to one kind of plant. Thii is nature,s way of using the troneybee to fertilize, or polfinate, the fie]ds and orchirds. Thi: service of the bees adds to the market millions of pounds of fruit and flowers. The pollen the bees harvest for their own use is carried back to the hive. To keep it from decaying, it is treated with fluids secreted from the bees bodies then deposiled. in storage cells. pollen cells are fi{.ed to about 1a capacity and are not capped- or sealed as are honey cells. . The bee is equipped with an extra stomach designed especially for transporting nectar and honey, this stomach receiv6s nectar intended for the.wh.ole-colony. H,oneybees condense nectar into honey by drying it, out in-th,e_ hive, but the process from nectar to honey is a tong "one. About 200,000 trips between flowers and hive are requiied to ma"ke an ounce -oJ h-o.-ney. The nectar is not only condensed 6y being stretched in a thin film on the bees tongue and being exposed to tie air that way, but also an important enzyme is added wiich breaks down the nectar. When a cell is full of honey, workers close it with a wax cover which- is airtight. A beekeeper can collect 100 pounds of honey from a single colony in a good year. _ Tlt" Ashgrove district where we live contains large quantities of box,.iron bark and-gum trees and a varied supply of ground herbage which provide our bees with high quality honey-aird a goocl supply'of pollen. This area is good from Spring until Christmas bui- after Christmas hives in this area have to be migrated to o.ther suitable locations. Interchange of food goes on all the time in the hive and it serves several purposes. The foragers are quickly relieved of their nectar loads_and can 99 off for another load. The house bees, whose glanils are . developed for feeding the brood receive no,urishment without fpgnding time in fetching food. The passing of food back and forth \elps-to ripen the nectar into honey by adding enzymes to it. With this food the 'Queen substance' is also distributed throughout the colony. The 'Queen substance' is secreted by one of the glands in the Queen's head and this becomes distributed over her entire body, Since she is constantly licked and preened by the nurse bees, the substance is absorbed py these rvorkers who, in turn, distribute it throughout the colony. -As long as there is sufficient Queen substance to satisfy the colony, it remains a single unit. - - Th9 certainity- with which each bee finds its way back to the flight hole of its own hive is truly amazing. Their secret l'radar" is provided by the- "scenting'',bees on the landing board in times of eniergency. These bees stand holding their abdomens high and move their wings almost incessantly to fan the scent. When you look closely between the last and second last segments their scent glands are slightly -extended and a scent characteristic to the particular colorry esCapei from this gland and the bee disperses it around the hive opening-by beating its wings. Bees also air+ondition their hive. This beating of the wings inside the hive is called "fanning". Bees fan to change the air and ventilate .the hive. Fanning keeps the brood-nest temperature from going above 95'F. If the humidity is too low, fanning raises it by speeding the

evaporation of the water brought in by water carriers. If the humidity is too high, fanning moves the air and thereby reduces it. Fanning helps also to condense nectar into honey. As the seasons change from hot to cool, the bees rise various methods to maintain a steady temperature within the brood nest. For this purpose bees are endowed with an organism of such great sensitivity that it enables them to gauge perfectly any variation in temperature. On a hot summer day when wax cells if left would melt, a corps of construction workers take over as emergency water carriers. They pump themselves full of water, carry it back to the heated cells and spray it lightly over the brood comb. Rapidly the bees beat their rvings and fan the moistened cells, causing heat to be drawn off through evaporation. During the winter months the workers use different methods to safeguard the colony against the cold. They form a blanket over the brood by huddling together thus keeping them warm. To produce additional heat they burn the sugar in their bodies by vibrating their wings. A bee uses up most fuel when it is flying, but even then it is an extremely small amount. A bee beats its wings up and down about 200 times a second and thus flies at a rate of 12 miles per hour:. No man-made engine can fly this fast with so little fuel. The bee has many marvellous sense organs which help in its adaptation to its environment. The bee's sense of smell and taste are roughly similar to a human beings but its sight is completely different. It can only see rough outlines of its environment. It can not see red as we can see it but can see ultra-violet rays and they are also able to recognize polarized red light. Because of this bees can orient themselves to the environment and find their way to and from the hive even when the sun is covered with clouds. It has not been determined but its highly developed sense of touch may serve instead. This sense enables the bee to perceive the slightest vibration, possibly including some sound waves. The bees ability to feel differences in temperature is one of nature's marvels. The bee aiso has an exceptional sense of balance. Bees always live for the community. By means of their dance Ianguage they can communicate information about forage to each other. Scout bees returning from a source of nectar can convey the exact location of their discovery to workers waiting in the hive through special dance routines. By their scent they even disclose the kind of flower yielding the nectar. In this dance language the bee can estimate distances up to 6 miles and more for its fellow workers. Like all insects in the world bees have enemies. The wax moth is one that causes extensive damage. They are most active after dark, the females enter the hive and lay masses of eggs in the darker places of the hive especially in weaker colonies. Grubs hatch out and cause damage by tunnelling through the comb. If this infection takes place hives often have to be destroyed. Several species of ants often visit hives. They invade only for food but can become a pest. During the winter mice enter colonies for protecticn, Their presence disturbs the colony and they mutilate combs by feeding and nesting. White ants also can cause consideragle damage to hives by eating away the wood.

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