Sabattus High School - Yearbook (Sabattus, ME)

Page 53 text:

B'TS Bees belong to the order of lnsects called Hymenoptera Cgauzed, wlngedl They are the most ingenious workers of all the insects and they stand at the head of the lnsect series Over five thousand specles of bees are known They live ln hives and may be found ln all part f the world, especlally in the troplcs The two most common kind of bees are the Soclal Bees, and the Honeyb csCBumblebees and the stingless Honeybees of the troplcal zone! The Solltary Bees include the leai cutting bees and carpenter bees The Honeybees are noted for their skill 1n maklng honey whleh lS made from the pollen and nectar of flowers The nectar lS stored up ln waxed cells which are present ln every hlve An ordlnary hlve of bees make as much as two hundred pounds of honey ln a day, whlch proves that bees are the most efflclent devlce used in turning nectar into honey Bees use honey for food and lt In each hive of bees there may be found three K1ndS of bees They are The workers or undeveloped female, queen, a fully developed female, and the drone, or male bee Each of these bees has its own special work to do, therefore, all work together for the good of the hive The queen acts as the mother of each bee 1n the hive, which numb rs from 10,000 to 100,000 bees Che also lays all the eggs of the hlve, which may be as many as three thousand a day The worker bees gather all the nectar and pollen from flowers, fill all the combs, and care for the young or baby bees These worker bees work very hard because their stomachs are only about as large as the head of a pln, therefore it must flll and empty lts stomach more than flfty times to get a half thimble full of nectar The drones are incapable of gathering nectar and serve only one purpose whlch 1S of fertllizing the young queens As soon as the mating season is over, the drones are shoved out of their hives and allowed to starve The queens live as long as five years, the drones during one season, whlle the workers live only about five weeks Bees cause the cross pollinatlon of many plants The Honey bees whlch gather nectar for honey are the most important carriers of pollen They have two tiny cups on their hind legs to take pollen to the hive, but some cllngs to their bodles and is carrled to other flowers The nectar stays in the flowers to which it has been taken, thus causing cross pollination which is merely the transfer of nectar from one plant to the stamen of the other plant, then the new seeds develop in the new plant Bees are also often necessary for the production of a good crop Phyllis Maxwell '47 Biology an . . . . . ' . I . ' s o - ' . 5 . Q - n ' D I . ' is also used for food by human beings and animals. G N l LJ ' , . . V , . . . . I 3 . . I l O . , 0