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New Zealand Listener, Volume 37, Issue 947, 4 October 1957, Page 23

OSEPH HEALY, seen here with compére Jack Maybury and some of his prizes-and on this week’s cover with his wife and their nine childrenis the first winner of the 64 Hundred Question. An amateur beekeeper, Mr Healy answered 11 progressively difficult questions on his special subject. Here they are: (8) In a well-kept hive of three super during November, how many types of. bees would you find? (16) Describe the difference in body of the queen, the worker, and the drone. (32) Name two main features of the worker bee not possessed by the queen and the drone. (64) Name four substances that bees gather . . . or three at least: (100) What exactly do bees do with tHe nectar? (200) Where do bees gather pollen and what do they do with it? (400) During the breeding season, bees gather a lot of water for their immediate use. They seldom store water but use it for what purpose? (800) What is propolis and for what purpose do bees use it? (1600) i, Which type of bees sting? ii, What is the correct method to remove a sting? iii, What is the incorrect method? iv, The stings of bees have been put to what good use? (3200) We know that the queeg bee is the mother of the colony. Can an unfertilised queen produce eggs that will devel into adult bees . . . and, if so, what type of reproduction is this known as? (6400) at is the minimum and maximum specific gravity requirement for bees-wax, under New Zealand specification ‘for bees-wax, set by the New Zealand Standards Institute, 1950? Answers: (8) One queen bee, workers, drones. (16) The queen has the longest .body of the three, the abdomen being much longer. The worker is the smallest of the three. The drone has a wider and heavier abdomen than the worker and is what is termed "squareended." (32) The worker has a sting at the end of the abdomen. It also has wax scales on the underside of the abdomen. (64) Nectar, pollen, water, propolis. (100) They turn the nectar into honey during the flight back to the hives. They store the nectar in specially built cells. Honey when stored is a predigested food. (200) ants that produce pollen do not as a rule produce nectar. Bees gather the pollen on their legs and wage They pack it into cells especially kept for pollen only and damp it down with honey. ey use pollen to make beebread to feed the young of the worker and drone. (400) For making food and beebread for eggs of the worker and drone and royal jelly for the queen. (800) Pre is a resinous substance gathered from buds and tree-tops. The bees use it to seal up the joints between bee boxes and to seal up holes to stop draughts, and to seal. down the frames in the hives. (1600) i, The worker bees do most of the stingi s: The queen can sting, but seldom uses her sting on a human being. It is used by her to kill another queen. i. Phe correct. method is to use a knife or a fingernail, running it undernea the sting. Use honey or vinegar. iii, The incorrect method po Ness $e to remove the sting with two fingers. iv, For many years an extract from the stings bees, called bee venom, has been sold in many parts of the world for er arthritis. (3200) Yes, Parthenogenesis. (6400) Not less than 0.955 and not more than 0,970.