The Behavior of the Honey Bee in Pollen CollectingCasteel, Dana Brackenridge
Science
The Behavior of the Honey Bee in Pollen Collecting
Casteel, Dana Brackenridge
Honeybee -- Behavior; Pollen
While working upon the problem of wax-scale manipulation during the
summer of 1911 the writer became convinced that the so-called wax
shears or pinchers of the worker honey bee have nothing whatever to do
with the extraction of the wax scales from their pockets, but rather
that they are organs used in loading the pollen from the pollen combs
of the hind legs into the corbiculæ or pollen baskets (Cast eel,
1912). Further observations made at that time disclosed the exact
method by which the hind legs are instrumental in the pollen-loading
process and also the way in which the middle legs aid the hind legs in
patting down the pollen masses. During the summer of 1912 additional
information was secured, more particularly that relating to the manner
in which pollen is collected upon the body and legs of the bee, how it
is transferred to the hind legs, how it is moistened, and finally the
method by which it is stored in the hive for future use. In the
present paper a complete account will be given of the history of the
pollen from the time it leaves the flower until it rests within the
cells of the hive. The points of more particular interest in the
description of pollen manipulation refer to (1) the movements
concerned in gathering the pollen from the flowers upon the body and
legs, (2) the method by which the baskets of the hind legs receive the
loads which they carry to the hive, and (3) the manner in which the
bee moistens pollen and renders it sufficiently cohesive for packing
and transportation.
THE STRUCTURES CONCERNED IN THE MANIPULATION OF POLLEN.
The hairs which cover the body and appendages of the bee are of the
utmost importance in the process of pollen gathering. For the purposes
of this account these hairs may be classified roughly as (1) branched
hairs and (2) unbranched hairs, the latter including both long,
slender hairs and stiff, spinelike structures.
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