Street, derived from the Latin strata via meaning a paved way, is a term commonly applied to a main thoroughfare of a town, as distinguished from a lane, country road or cul-de-sac.
The bee is a four winged stinging insect of the order Hymenoptera. Bees form the super-family Apoidea of the sub-order Apocrita.
The most important member of the family is the common hive or honey bee (Apis mellifica). It belongs to the warmer parts of the Eastern Hemisphere, but is now naturalized in the Western. A hive commonly consists of one mother or queen, from 600 to 800 males or drones, and from 15,000 to 20,000 working bees, formerly termed neuters, but now known to be imperfectly-developed females. The last-mentioned, the smallest, have twelve joints to their antennae, and six abdominal rings, and are provided with a sting; there is, on the outside of the hind-legs, a smooth hollow, edged with hairs, called the basket, in which the kneaded pollen or bee-bread, the food of the larvae, is stored for transit.
The queen has the same characteristics, but is of larger size, especially in the abdomen; she has also a sting. The males, or drones, differ from both the preceding by having thirteen joints to the antennae; a rounded head, with larger eyes, elongated and united at the summit; and no stings. According to Huber the working-bees are themselves divisible into two classes: one, the cirieres, devoted to the collection of provisions, etc; the other, smaller and more delicate, employed exclusively within the hive in rearing the young.
The mouth of the bee is adapted for both masticatory and suctorial purposes, the honey being conveyed thence to the anterior stomach or crop, communicating with a second stomach in which alone a digestive process can be traced. The queen, whose sole office is to propagate the species, has two large ovaries, consisting of a great number of small cavities, each containing sixteen or seventeen eggs. The inferior half-circles, except the first and last, on the abdomen of working-bees, have each on their inner surface two cavities, where the wax, secreted by the bee from its saccharine food, is formed in layers, and comes out from between the abdominal rings.
Respiration takes place by means of air-tubes which branch out to all parts of the body, the bee being exceedingly sensitive to an impure atmosphere. Of the organs of sense the most important are the antennae, deprivation of these resulting in a species of derangement. The majority of entomologists regard their function as in the first place auditory, but they are exceedingly ssensitive to tactual impressions, and are apparently the principal means of mutual communication.
Bees undergo perfect metamorphosis, the young appearing first as larvae, then changing to pupae, from which the imagosor perfect insects spring. Whether the offspring are to be female or male is said to be dependent upon the contact or absence of contact of the egg with the impregnating fluid received from the male and stored in a special sac communicating with the oviduct, unfertilized eggs producing males. The further question whether the offspring shall be queens or workers is resolved by the influence of environment upon function. The enlargement of a cell to the size of a royal chamber and the nourishment of its inmate with a special kind of food appear to be sufficient to transform an ordinary working-bee larva into a fully-developed female or queen-bee.
The season of fecundation occurs about the beginning of summer, and the laying begins immediately afterwards, and continues until autumn; in the spring as many as 12,000 eggs may be laid in twenty-four days. Those laid at the commencement of fine weather all belong to the working sort, and hatch at the end of four days. The larvae acquire their perfect state in about twelve days, and the cells are then immediately fitted up for the reception of new eggs. The eggs for producing males are laid two months later, and those for the females immediately afterwards. This succession of generations forms so many distinct communities, which, when increased beyond a certain degree, leave the parent hive to found a new colony elsewhere. Thus three or four swarms sometimes leave a hive in a season. A good swarm is said to weigh at least three kilograms. Besides the common bee (Apis mellifica) there are the Apis fasciata, domesticated in Egypt, the Apis Ugustica, or Ligurian bee of Italy and Greece, introduced into England, etc.
The humble-bees, or bumble-bees, of which about forty species are found in Britain and over sixty in North America, belong to the genus Bombus, which is almost worldwide in its distribution. Of these species solitary females which have survived the winter commence constructing small nests when the weather begins to be warm enough; some of them going deep into the earth in dry banks, others preferring heaps of stone or gravel, and others choosing always some bed of dry moss. In the nest the bee collects a mass of pollen and in this lays some eggs. The cells in these nests are not the work of the old bee, but are formed by the young insects similarly to the cocoons of silk-worms; and when the perfect insect is released from them by the old bee, which gnaws off their tops, they are employed as honey-cups.
The humble-bees, however, do not store honey for the winter, those which survive until the cold weather leaving the nest and penetrating the earth, or taking up some other sheltered position, and remaining there until the spring. The first brood consists of workers, and successive broods are produced during the summer. The experiment of domesticating different kinds of wild bees has been tried with no satisfactory results. Some bees, from their manner of nesting, are known as 'mason bees,' 'carpenter bees,' and 'upholsterer bees.' Some of these bees (genus Osmia) cement particles of sand or gravel together with a viscid substance in forming their nests; others make burrows in wood. The leaf-cutter or upholsterer bee (genus Megachile) lines its burrow with bits of leaf cut out in regular shapes. Research Bee
The elephant seal, proboscis seal or sea elephant (Mirounga) is the largest of the seals. The male grows to about six metres in length with a girth of three meters, and has a large sac of skin on his nose which can be inflated with air to resemble a small trunk. They vary in length from 4 to 9 meters, and in girth at the chest from 2.5 to 5 metres. The proboscis of the male is about 38 cm when the creature is at rest, but elongates under excitement. The females have no proboscis, and are considerably smaller than the male. Both species became rare during the 19th century from their continual slaughter. Research Elephant Seal
Globe-fish is a popular name applied to several fish of the genera Diodon and Tetraodon of the order Plectognathi, on account of their ability to assume a globular form by swallowing air or water which inflates a ventral sac and inflates the whole animal like a balloon. Research Globe-fish
Black Hawk was Chief of the Sac and Fox Indians. He was born in 1767 and died in 1838. He joined the British in the war of 1812, and opposed the treaty of 1830 giving lands east of the Mississippi to the white settlers, resulting in the Black Hawk War in 1831. Research Black Hawk
The Menominee are an Algonquian tribe of Indians, generally resembling the Ojibwa, but with a distinct language. They formerly ranged over north Wisconsin and upper Michigan. They were unfriendly to the English settlers, but took sides against the colonists during the American War Of Independence. In 1813 also they allied themselves with the British, taking part in several engagements. Treaties were made in 1817, 1825, and 1827. In 1831 they began to cede their lands around Green Bay and Lake Michigan. They aided the Government in the Sac and Fox War and in the Rebellion. Research Menominee
The alveolar septum is the thin wall which separates one alveolus from another in the large alveolar cluster, or sac. The alveolar septum may be fully formed or only partially formed, as alveoli may be completely spherical or partially joined with a neighbouring alveolus. Within the material of the alveolar walls and septa are the capillary networks which bring the oxygen-poor, carbon dioxide- rich blood to be regenerated. Research Alveolar Septum
The alveoli are the tiny sacs at the ends of the bronchial tree. Each small bronchiole divides into half a dozen or so alveolar ducts, which are the narrow inlets into alveolar sacs. Each alveolar duct subdivides, leading into three or more alveolar sacs. Each large alveolar sac is like a grapecluster which contains ten or more alveoli. Because the membrane separating the alveolus and the capillary network which carries blood over them is very thin and semi-permeable, oxygen can transfer from the air into the blood cells within the capillaries. Likewise, carbon dioxide and other waste gases can transfer out of the blood and into the air to be exhaled from the lungs. The alveoli are particularly susceptible to infection, as they provide bacteria and viruses a perfect place to grow. This accounts for the tendency for a chest cold or other lung problem to advance into pneumonia and pneumonitis, both potentially dangerous conditions in which the innermost parts of the lungs become infected and inflamed, diminishing air flow and oxygen transport. Research Alveoli
The amnion is a membranous sac which surrounds the embryo; it is developed in reptiles, birds and mammals, but not in amphibians or fishes. Research Amnion
The Probert Encyclopaedia was designed, edited and programed by
Matt and Leela Probert
Abbreviations
Research Bee
