THE NECTAR GATHERERS
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 dictionary you will find that
nectar is described as being “any pleasant liquid.” I want you to
understand that the bees do not actually gather what we call honey.
What the bees gather, and what the flowers secrete, is nectar, which is
a thin watery liquid, containing among other things a large proportion
of cane sugar.
Arrived at the meadow the forager alights on the first suitable flower
she comes to, and dips her tongue down to the nectaries. Even the
tiniest droplet of nectar can be collected by means of the spoon at
the tip of the proboscis. She visits flower after flower until her
honey-sac is filled, and then she sets out on the return journey to
the hive. Whilst she flies a change takes place within the honey-sac.
First of all the nectar is strained, to separate the pollen, and in the
manner we have already seen. Then some juices are added to it which are
supplied by glands in the bee’s body. The cane sugar is changed into
another form, called grape sugar.
Cane sugar is not good for either us or animals to eat, but on the
other hand grape sugar is beneficial. You will know that we cannot
derive any nourishment from our food until it has been acted upon by
the saliva of the mouth and by certain juices in the stomach. The food
is then said to be digested. Practically the same change is carried
out in the bee’s body, the nectar being converted into honey. In her
case, however, the change is not made only upon the food she consumes
herself, but also on that contained in the honey-sac. Many people think
that the honey they eat is just in the same state as it is in the
nectaries of the flowers from which it has been gathered, but now you
will know that this is not so. The reason that honey is good for us is
that it has already been partly digested by the bees, and therefore our
stomach is saved a certain amount of work.
Our bee has now arrived at the hive, and as she passes the guard bees
she is recognised as being one of themselves, and her entry to the
hive is not delayed. The guards may salute her as she passes, with a
wave of their antennæ, and she hurries off to the storehouses. Here
the warehouse bees are kept busy storing away the honey brought in by
the foragers, and to one of these bees our little friend hands over
her load. At least she does not “hand” it over, but passes it from her
tongue to that of the other bee, who in turn swallows it. This bee then
climbs to the cell she is filling, and placing her tongue therein,
empties the honey into it. No sooner has the forager been relieved
of her load than she makes her way to the hive door, pushing and
struggling, butting with her head here, or crawling over her sisters
there, until she at last forces her way through the crowd and flies off
to gather further supplies. A bee that is one day gathering nectar
will probably collect pollen the next day, and _vice versa_. By this
arrangement the organs which change the nectar into honey are given a
rest.
We cannot tell how bees are able to find their way home to the hive so
cleverly. They may fly two, three, four, or even more miles away to
the flowers, but they are always able to return. If a forager bee is
imprisoned in a box, and carried a couple of miles away and released,
she will reach the hive long before we could; in this respect you will
see that bees are something like homing pigeons.