Stan Sandler wrote: .
>
>My edition of H & HB, although about 30 years older did have, I found, a
>good description of ripening, along with nice diagrams of the bees moutparts
>in various stages of the manipulation process.  However, the mechanics of
>how the process works still intrigues me.  I am curious as to how the water
>is actually being extracted from the nectar by the bee.  Or is some water
>just being evaporated during the process with the nectar being heated each
>time it is reingested.
>
>If the water was being absorbed by the bee it seems to me that it would take
>an active mechanism to do so and not just a semi-permeable membrane.  The
>sugar content of most of the nectars that bees collect, as Peter and H & HB
>mentioned, is between 20 and 40 % , and so I imagine it is more concentrated
>than the bees body fluids, and so osmosis would not tend to take water from it.
 
   In the May 1974 paper from the New Zealand Beekeeper (kindly alerted to
us by Nick Wallingford), one can find the following passage:
 
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(c) "The energy required for ripening large quantities of nectar is
appreciable; for instance, Ribbands calculated that the elimination of each
pound of surplus water involved the wastage of 4-5 ounces of sugar.  This
is about 25 per cent and approximates Wedmore's figure of 20 percent.
Further, the actual consumption of honey also releases water as the 'water
of combustion' plus the 17-18 percent water nturally in honey, and this too
demands genergy to get rid of it.  This extra water may be as great as
one-half to two-thirds of a pound for every pound of honey consumed.  Some
of this water is lost by evaporation, but the great majority is stored
temporarily in the rectum [and then] disposed of during cleansing flights.
Again, the bees should have ample opportunity for flying during the period
in which they are ripening sugar stores.."
 
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                                                        Adrian
 
Adrian M. Wenner                    (805) 963-8508 (home phone)
967 Garcia Road                     (805) 893-8062  (UCSB FAX)
Santa Barbara, CA  93103
 
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*     "Nature only answers rightly when she is rightly questioned."
 
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*                                                      Goethe
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