The Way of a Bee
A device of extreme nicety and ingenuity has just been perfect for detecting the way of a bee in the air and the flower. The weig of the bee on passing over the floor of the exit or entrance to t hive sets up an electrical contact which registers the movement, a by help of this it now becomes possible to find out a number small but suggestive points, such as the length of time taken individual bees in each journey after pollen or honey, and ,degree of activity shown at any given time of day or during a degree of warmth. Already by use of drops of coloured cellu the progressive functions of individual bees as they grow up ha been discovered—their advance, for example, from nursemaids caterers ; and the general life history has been illuminated. new device is being brought into practical use in the admira little research apiary at Rothamsted. A number of the hives the have for some years been so nicely poised that the weight of and honey within them at different times of day is automatica registered and correlated with the clock and the weather.
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