Bees may appear to have two wings when they fly, but they actually have four, which they move as if they were only two in number. This use is better suited to the laws of aerodynamics. If these wings acted separately, they would be useless for flight. Yet thanks to the special structure of their wings, bees can move faster than a great many other flying creatures.

On the bee's hindwings are a large number of hook-like projections. These attach to the folded rear edge of the forewings, allowing the two wings to act as one. When at rest, these tiny bonds are released, and the fore- and hindwings are left independent again.117

A- Workers’ fore- and hindwings, veins, and the tiny hooks (hamuli) which link the hindwings and the forewings during flight. B- Chest muscles that provide most of the power during flight. Contracting the longitudinal muscles and relaxing the vertical muscles extends the chest upwards and pulls the wings down. Relaxing the longitudinal muscles and contracting the vertical muscles works in the opposite way, turning the chest out and pulling the wings up. It is this anatomical structure that allows bees to fly much better than a great many other insects.

The Olfactory System

Bees' scent receptors are on their antennae. (Contrary to human beings, insects' scent-receptors lie not in their respiratory openings.) Yet these sensory nerves do not make direct contact with the substance being smelled since insects' bodies, including their antennae, are covered in a shell of chitin.

Under a microscope, the bee's antennae can be seen to have a large number of pore plates. The olfactory nerves from its brain terminate at these plates, which are covered in a special membrane that helps protect the nerve endings. Yet these are still able to detect scents. The area between the pore plates is covered with sensory tiny hairs.118

Magnified view of one of the pore plates on the worker bee’s antenna The seven types of sensory structures on the antennae: a. Small thick-walled hair b. Thick-walled peg c. Slender thin-walled peg d. Large thin-walled peg e. Pore plate f. Pit organ g. Pit organ

The Taste System

Bees' taste organs, in their mouth cavities and proboscis, enable them to distinguish sweet, sour, bitter and salty tastes.

Of these, sweetness is the most important for honey-gathering bees. In particular, bees are well able to distinguish the kinds of sugar necessary for themselves. We can make a comparison here between bees and human beings. Humans may not be able to differentiate very well between sugar and artificial sweeteners with no nutritional value. But it is impossible to deceive bees with artificial sweeteners: A bee can immediately tell the difference between these and real sugar, and will refuse to take water containing the former. Because bees use the nectar they collect to make honey, any error in recognizing sugar will lead to poor honey or none at all.119

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• 117. Ibid., p.65
• 118. Karl von Frisch, Arilarin Hayati (The Life of Bees), pp.117-119
• 119. Ibid., p.124

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