Bees, Shown to the Children

by Ellison Hawks

Plate XXIII

Storing the pollen in cells

Arriving at the flower, the little worker alights and moves about it, so that very soon her hairy body becomes covered with pollen, as shown in the frontispiece. Although she was a brown bee when she alighted on the flower, now she is all golden yellow, and looks like a dusty miller. It is here that the brushes and combs with which the legs are furnished come in useful, and after two or three flowers have been visited, we may see her brushing down her body, and combing the pollen grains out of the hairs in which they are entangled. The collected pollen is then moistened with a tiny drop of honey, and kneaded into little round pellets, which are placed in the pollen baskets. This being done, the bee flies on and on, visiting other flowers, until her baskets are quite full. Sometimes the bee gathers more than can be carried in her baskets, so she returns to the hive with her body smothered in gaily-coloured pollen.

Though her wings are strong, yet the load of pollen is heavy, and all her strength is needed to reach the hive in safety. It may be that she is almost exhausted before she can alight on the board at the city gates. So she will settle on a leaf or some flower, like a ship coming to anchor, in the harbour of the garden, and here for a few seconds she will rest, to gain fresh strength for the final flight. Some of the bees seem to act as inspectors, or general helpers as it were, always on the lookout to do somebody a good turn or to lend a helping hand wherever it may be required. And now, as the pollen gatherer makes a final flight to the board, these bees come forward and help her to drag her load safely within the city. Once inside the door, the worker makes straight for the cells which might be called the flour bins, for here the pollen is stored. A picture of them is to be seen in Plate XXIII., and you will notice that the different kinds of pollen are still kept separate. Arrived here, the gatherer levers the pellets out of the baskets by means of the spurs on each of her middle legs. These act as little crowbars, and the pollen is then placed in the cells. If it is not intended for immediate use, some of the house bees will cover it over with a layer of honey, for it would not keep if left exposed to the air. We should imagine that the pollen gatherer would now take a rest, or at any rate some refreshment. This, however, is not the case, for no sooner has she got rid of her load than she darts towards the door, and before we have time to follow her she is off to the fields again for another load. From morning to night she continues to travel backwards and forwards between the flowers and the hive. Is it any wonder, then, that at the end of a few weeks’ time the brave little worker will have completely worn away her wings, and will lie down and die?

When watching the alighting-board, you will remember that we remarked on the pollen gatherers entering the hive, each with the little baskets filled with bright-coloured pollen; from the colour of the pollen we may tell from what flowers the bees have brought it. The deep golden-brown comes from the gorse bloom, away on the hill; the snow-white from the hawthorn, and the vivid yellow from the buttercup, or perhaps the dandelion. The pale green is from the gooseberry bushes, whilst the pollen of the charlock is golden and clover pollen is russet-brown. Sometimes, when the poppies are growing among the corn, the little gatherers will return with loads of jet-black pollen, while the orchards give many delicate hues, the most beautiful of which is the light yellow from the apple blossom. On rare occasions, we may see a worker come laden with pollen of deep crimson, but the source of this wonderfully coloured stuff is a mystery, for we do not know from what flower it is obtained.

CHAPTER XXIX
THE VARNISH MAKERS

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 perhaps you know, a resinous kind of matter covering their new shoots, whilst the horse-chestnut protects its leaf buds with a similar sticky substance. This the bees gather, and they draw it off the trees in thin strings, just as sometimes you see children playing with a piece of sticky toffee, by pulling it into two pieces. The bees then roll these strings into balls, and pack them in their pollen baskets, and return to the hive. The other bees help to unload as soon as the gatherers arrive, for the sticky substance soon hardens, and must therefore be got out of the pollen baskets as quickly as possible, and for the same reason it must be used at once. The bees then knead it with their jaws and mix with it some liquid from their mouths, until it is quite soft and pliable.

With this preparation, which is really like varnish, the bees coat the whole of the inside walls if the hive is a new one. Should there be any cracks in the walls or floor, they are carefully filled up to keep out the cold and damp. Then again the propolis, in a stronger form, is used for fastening the combs to the frames, and for any other objects which the little engineers may think need firmly fixing. When we open a hive we find that the felts, which cover the combs and keep them warm, are firmly fastened down to the frames, and sometimes we have to use considerable force to get them off. The frames holding the combs are fastened into position, too, with propolis, and a mixture of this substance and wax is used to cover over the bodies of any intruders who have entered the hive and have been stung to death. The combs containing sealed cells of honey are subjected to a coating of very thin propolis to keep them sweet and clean. Plate XXIV. is a photograph of a frame of comb just removed from the hive. Towards the top you will see bees busy capping the honey cells, and others are varnishing them over with propolis. The cells inside the white lines are pollen cells, and you may see pollen-pellets in them.

Plate XXIV