THE WORKERS.
Distinguishing Characteristics--Supposed Differences of
Function among them--Sir John Lubbock's Experiments--Fertile
Workers--Length of Life--"Black Bees"--Duties of Workers.
[Illustration: Fig. 9.--A Worker Bee.
_a._ Natural size. _b._ Magnified.]
The workers are by far the most numerous, and, in some sense, the most
important party in the commonwealth of bees. They are smaller in size
than either queens or drones. Microscopic examination, and the fact of
their occasionally developing the power of laying eggs, prove that they
are really undeveloped females. It is hardly correct, therefore, to
call them, as has been so often done, _neuters_. The chief structural
differences to be noted in them, as compared with the other two classes
in the hive, are, the possession of a long proboscis for gathering
honey, of receptacles for carrying pollen, of a very formidable
straight and barbed sting, and brushes on the legs for clearing
different parts of the body from the farina of flowers or from dust.
The worker-eggs are deposited by the queen in the smaller-sized cells
of the combs, and are the first laid in a new colony, or in the spring
of the year.
Certain observers have thought they noticed differences in the size
of the full-grown workers, and supposed that these variations were
connected with diversity of occupations and duties. But as all have
their several organs and their whole structure precisely alike, and
as little direct evidence of special functions has been adduced, it
is tolerably certain that any peculiarities in regard to size must be
otherwise explained. Nor is it difficult to discover how these may have
been brought about. For, since each pupa leaves behind it some portion
of the silken cocoon it had spun, it is clear that after a succession
of young bees from the same cells, these must become sensibly
contracted in extent, so that the later progeny will not have had as
much space in which to grow as their elder-born sisters had, and hence
are, at least when they emerge, smaller in size.
Huber, without reference to the above-mentioned fact, supposed that
separate duties were undertaken by special bees, at least so far as
the gathering of stores and the care of the young were concerned.
Subsequent observations, however, tend to show that the latter office
is undertaken by the most recently born young, till they themselves
have become strong enough to fly abroad in search of honey and
pollen. It is said they also see to the making of wax, the building
of comb, and the cleansing of the hive, during the first two or three
weeks of their life. Some corroboration of this idea is given by the
circumstance that, if there be not sufficient room for the extension
of a very strong population in their abode, and the conditions for
swarming are not satisfactory, the older bees will remain idle in
clusters, often outside the hive, leaving to the younger ones the
execution of the internal work.
Sir John Lubbock has recorded a series of observations which seem to
indicate that certain individuals are stationed near the entrances as
sentinels. In his most interesting work on _Ants, Bees, and Wasps_, he
says:--
"On October 5th I called out the bees by placing some eau-de-Cologne in
the entrance, and marked the first three bees that came out. At 5 P.M.
I called them out again. About twenty came, including the three marked
ones. I marked three more.
"October 6. Called them out again. Out of the first twelve, five were
marked ones. I marked three more.
"October 7. Called them out at 7.30 A.M. as before. Out of the first
nine seven were marked ones. At 5.30 P.M. called them out again. Out of
six, five were marked ones.
"Octobers. Called them out at 7.15. Six came out, all marked ones.
"October 9. Called them out at 6.40. Out of the first ten, eight were
marked ones. Called them out at 11.30 A.M. Out of six, three were
marked. I marked other three. Called them out at 1.30 P.M. Out of ten,
six were marked. Called them out at 4.30. Out often, seven were marked.
"October 10. Called them out at 6.5 A.M. Out of six, five were marked.
Shortly afterwards I did the same again, when out of eleven, seven were
marked ones. 5.30 P.M. called them out again. Out of seven, five were
marked.
"October 11. 6.30 A.M. called them out again. Out of nine, seven were
marked. 5 P.M. called them out again. Out of seven, five were marked.
After this they took hardly any notice of the scents.
"Thus in these nine experiments, out of the ninety-seven bees which
came out first, no less than seventy-one were marked ones."
Many interesting questions connected with the workers remain for future
investigation: such, for instance, as whether the same bee returns to
the same part of the hive after each foraging expedition; whether the
same bees go out in search of stores day after day, or sometimes take
holidays or rest from out-door fatigues, by applying themselves to some
of the internal labours of the hive; whether those who become more or
less exhausted from long-continued flights die, for the most part, on
their journeys, or come back home to end their lives.
One point not known to general readers is, that a bee on each separate
going out for stores confines herself to one particular kind of flower
for that expedition. That is to say, a worker who begins on violets,
will not visit any other flowers than violets before returning to the
hive. If lime-blossoms are chosen, they will be adhered to. If a bee
searching white-clover heads be watched, she will be seen to go only
to similar sources of supply. This fact may be verified by any one
who will take the trouble to notice in field or garden the customs of
the hive-bee. It does not seem to be the habit of wild bees thus to
confine themselves to particular flowers for each journey they make.
The importance of this circumstance in the case of our domesticated
species, and its influence on the vegetable world, will be noted in a
later chapter, when we discuss the relation of bees to flowers.
We have before alluded to the very remarkable phenomenon occasionally
occurring to the great annoyance of the bee-keeper, namely, the
development in a worker of the power of laying eggs, which eggs
will produce nothing but drones, so that the population of the hive
dwindles, and becomes extinct. Various suggestions have been made
as to the reason of this faculty appearing. A very plausible idea
is that some of the "royal jelly" is occasionally, and possibly by
mistake, given to a larva in the neighbourhood of a queen-cell, and
this stimulating food produces a partial development of laying power.
A second possibility is that sometimes a worker-larva in too forward a
condition is transferred to a queen-cell, and owing to the difference
of treatment not having been begun early enough, an imperfect and
nondescript kind of bee results. Some corroboration of this may perhaps
be found in a curious fact, which has been several times noted, and
published in the _British Bee-Journal_, viz., the finding of workers
hatched in queen-cells. It would be difficult to imagine such an
abnormal event, unless unusual circumstances had occurred to the young
larva.
The birth of a fertile worker in a hive is a great misfortune; for, not
merely will the population diminish, and at length altogether fail,
from the production of drone-brood only, but, as it is impossible
to distinguish the offending worker, it is difficult to get rid of
her. It has been recommended, on the discovery that she exists, to
amalgamate the stock with another having a queen. This may answer, but
there is a danger that when the battle comes to be fought between the
actual sovereign and the fertile worker, who will try to maintain her
prerogative, the latter, as the more active, and as possessed of a
more formidable sting, may prove victorious. A safer plan, therefore,
is to turn out the whole stock from their hive, comb by comb, if the
bar-frame system is used, and allow them to return to the old place
where the cleared combs may be put to receive them. The fertile worker,
never having left the colony, will not know her way back, and so will
be happily got rid of, and will probably perish. Her place must, of
course, be supplied by an introduced queen, or the stock must be united
with another.
The age to which the workers live varies according to the amount of
labour they undergo. During the winter and the early spring, when
little or no work is done, there is small drain on their vital force,
and they may live for six or seven months. In the height of summer,
when long days and abundant supplies invite them to many hours of
continuous toil, the industrious insects are believed to exhaust
themselves very rapidly, and to perish, as if prematurely old, in about
five or six weeks. It is quite evident that the mortality during the
middle of the year must be very great, seeing that egg-laying and
hatching go on at the rate of several hundreds a day, and during weeks
and months in succession: and yet it frequently happens, where room
sufficient for the growing stores is provided, no swarm will be thrown
off, from which we infer that a period is reached when the birth-rate
and death-rate pretty closely approach each other.
The older workers are distinguishable from the younger by their deeper
and more glossy colour. The grey bloom of youth has been worn off,
and frequently their wings, notched or broken in places, betray the
veterans in the battle of life, who, amidst rains, hail, and wind, have
suffered more or less severely.
Some observers have called attention to certain individuals in the
community, which have been spoken of as "black bees,"[1] and which have
been supposed to possess special functions. Von Berlepsch ascertained
from his countryman Leuckart that no anatomical differences existed
between these and ordinary workers; and, from subsequent experiments,
came to the conclusion that the difference in colour was due to the
accidental absence or the loss of the hairs or down with which bees are
ordinarily covered. This loss may have occurred through getting smeared
with honey, or from stifling, or fright, or creeping constantly through
apertures too small to admit their bodies readily. Dzierzon, another
great authority, corroborates the above explanation, and further
adds, "as a rule, the glossy black bees are _robbers_, which have been
pursuing their trade for some time."
[Footnote 1: This term is also used for all English bees, in
distinction from the _Ligurian_, _Cyprian_, and other varieties with
yellow bands.]
A similar difference in size and colour has been often noticed in
the case of drones; and the explanation of their occurrence seems
to be that such smaller individuals have been hatched in the cells
intermediate between the normal drone and worker varieties, a tier or
two of such intermediate cells being frequently made, to shade off the
difference of size between the two kinds.
The duties undertaken by the workers constitute a series of operations
indicating marvellous skill and apparent reasoning power. It is
true that what we call "instinct"--a word which merely covers our
ignorance--seems to play a large part in the direction of the doings
of bees; but the readiness with which they adapt themselves to
circumstances, the expedients they adopt to remedy defects in their
dwellings or surroundings, the efforts they make to repair losses and
to provide for the continuance of the race, appear to transcend the
limits of a power actuated by blind impulse alone.
We have spoken of the brooding over and feeding of the larvæ, the
sealing of the pupæ, the cleansing of the newly-hatched young, as the
special duties of the workers. All these offices are performed by
the most juvenile members of the family, who thus become gradually
initiated into the responsibilities of bee-life, and daily gather
strength for the next and more extended duties of citizenship. These
consist of the gathering of supplies of honey, pollen, and propolis,
the elaboration of wax, the making of the combs, the storing and
sealing up of produce, the cleansing and ventilation of the hive, the
guarding of the entrance, and the driving off or slaughter of intruders
of various kinds.
These various operations are worthy of separate notice, and we will
proceed to give some details relating to each.