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Bees and Their HabitsAuthor(s): A. W. StelfoxSource: The Irish Naturalists' Journal, Vol. 1, No. 1 (Sep., 1925), pp. 3-4Published by: Irish Naturalists' Journal Ltd.Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25531118 .
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September, 1925. j 3
BEES AND THEIR HABITS.
By A. W. Stelfox, M.R.I.A.
Most people are aware of the habits of our Hive Bee, which lives in large communities, presided over, as it were, by
a single
queen-mother. On the other hand how many know anything of the many solitary Wild Bees which are to be met with in all parts of Ireland?
The communities formed by the Hive Bee survive from year to year, and spread by sending out swarms, with each of which
goes a queen. The queens are merely perfectly developed females,
while the workers are females which are specially endowed with
food-gathering appliances, though sexually imperfect. Each season a few young queens are reared, and to mate with these,
also drones (or males). The food of the community is gathered entirely by the workers, and is stored up to carry the colony over the Winter, and to give it a good start in the Spring, before many flowers are to be met with. The ordinary food stored is nectar and pollen gathered from flowers. From the former is manu
factured honey, which, mixed with pollen, makes "
bee bread."
The larvae or grubs of the bees are fed chiefly on this bee-bread, which is such a potent food, that only 22 days elapse between the
laying of an egg by the queen and the emergence from the cell of a perfect worker bee. Queen bees are reared in larger cells and
are fed throughout their larval life on a Still more potent form of
food, called "
Royal Jelly;" their egg and larval life is only 16
days. Drones (males), on the other hand, take 25 days to grow to maturity. A Queen Hive Bee may live several years, but the
workers only for a single season, though many of the former, born
in the Autumn, survive until the following Spring or Summer.
Now, amongst our wild bees none have this habit of founding communities which survive from year to year, like those of the
Hive Bee. The nearest approach to these habits is made by the Humble Bees, more
commonly called '*
Bumble Bees." The
Queen Bumbles raise large communities of workers, young queens and males, but these communities in no case survive the following
Winter. In Spring-time we only see queens; these seek out suit
able nesting sites, and, entirely unaided, each raises a small family of workers, who at once relieve the queen of the duties of gathering food. In the late Summer the young queens and males are born, and, having mated, the former at unce seek a
resting place for the
Winter, wherein they sleep secure till the following Spring calls them once more into activity. The old queens die each Summer or Autumn, while the males and workers linger a little longer about the countryside if the weather is favourable. The vast
majority of our wild bees, however, cannot raise workers to assist
them, and do not live therefore in populous communities. Hence they are called
" Solitary Bees." All Female Solitary Bees are,
as it were, queens, and upon each individual female rests the entire labour of making a burrow or other nest and storing food for her
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4 The Irish Naturalists' Journal. [Vol. 1.
young. The usual method is bo make a tunnel in some sunny bank or sandy place, off which cells are constructed, one at a time.
When one of these cells has been stored with a mixture of honey and pollen, an egg is laid and the cell closed up- In no case does a Solitary Bee ever see her own young, nor can the latter ever
know their mother. ^In normal cases, where there is only a single brood in the year, the mother is dead 10 or 11 months before the children see the light of day.
RECENT PROGRESS IN ORNITHOLOGY.
By W. H. Workman, F.Z.S., M.B.O.U.
Those of us who follow the literature connected with the
study of birds must surely have remarked on the great activity of that very virile nation or rather nations who live on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean. Many of our papers on Ornithology are dull lists of species inhabiting various parts of the world with few or any field notes attached, so that they are not attractive
reading, because reading to be attractive must awaken in the mind of the reader various speculations and arguments as he bring* into
play the knowledge that he has acquired through long study of his favourite subject?the bird and all that pertains thereto.
Our reading during the last year or two has brought us much into contact with the activities of American and Canadian Orni
thologists. It is of these that we propose to deal in this short
article, because they have struck us as being so well worth future
investigation and far removed from the usual rut into which bird notes fall.
Wliat Ornithologist has not wondered time and again at the brilliant colouring of the various species of birds, especially foreigners? We have our own Kingfisher of azure blue, and in our aviaries we have the Cardinals and Weaver finches, brilliantly coloured. In the days gone by wre were told that the variety of colour in birds was principally for protection. This theory is all
very well for the species which comfortably fit into it, but what of the vast crowd of magnificently feathered birds, what theory have
we to suit their particular case ? Two "Canadians, Messrs. B. W. Cartwright and C. J. Harrold,
have evidently been wondering about these interesting facts and their uses, and in a very scientific article* published in the April number of
" The Auk
" they have given us a resume of their work
on what they believe to be the use of the varied colouring in the feathers of birds- They proceed by stating that the only known source of energy in the planetary system is the sun, which is the centre of all life, and without it there can be no life on ovir planet; this
** radiant energy
M is derived from the whole of the solar
spectrum. When radiant energy falls on an object, part of it is
reflected, part absorbed and part transmitted; the reflected part
*The Auk, Vol. XLIL, April, 1925. An Outline of the Principles of the
Natural Selective Absorption of Badiant Energy.
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