The honeybee is much too interesting to describe in one article. Today we will look at its specially designed body structure.
Bees have six legs, and each pair has a special purpose. The front pair is specially adapted to clean off the insect’s antennae or wipe pollen from its face, mouth and large eyes. The hinged middle pair is used to pack pollen into the collecting baskets on the hind legs. In addition to carrying these baskets, the hind pair work with the middle pair to tamp the pollen into pellets, which are used in the hive. Each leg also has sharp tips for walking over rough surfaces, and cushions between the tips give a grip on smooth surfaces.
Two flexible antennae on the front of the bee are covered with thousands of tiny plates. These give the bee sensitivity to touch and also a keen sense of smell. Then there are the two specially designed wings that enable the bee to carry heavy loads of nectar and pollen for long distances. When flying, the front and back wings attach to each other by hooks, which then make one large, strong pair of wings. However, to enter small flowers or the hive cells, these wings separate, fold down and overlap. Incidentally, a bee flies with its wings moving in a figure eight pattern, which allows it to move up or down, backward or forward, or hover like a hummingbird.
A bee has five eyes - three small ones in a triangle on top of its head, and a large compound eye on each side of the head. The compound eyes, with many smaller plates called facets, somehow pick up the sun’s rays and act as a compass wherever the bee may be at any time.
The bee has a wonderful “chemical factory” inside. This changes the nectar it gathers into honey. The same organs produce beeswax too.
No other insect has a tongue designed like a bee’s that penetrates into deep pockets of flowers. The body shape and structure are also designed to carry pollen from one plant to another. The bee is God’s chief pollinator of flowers.
Proverbs 16:2424Pleasant words are as an honeycomb, sweet to the soul, and health to the bones. (Proverbs 16:24) says, “Pleasant words are as an honeycomb, sweet to the soul, and health to the bones.” How happy life would be if we all used pleasant words with as much energy as bees use in gathering their honey. But it is only by knowing the Lord Jesus as our Saviour that we have a new nature, which delights in pleasant words and helpful works. Proverbs 22:17-1817Bow down thine ear, and hear the words of the wise, and apply thine heart unto my knowledge. 18For it is a pleasant thing if thou keep them within thee; they shall withal be fitted in thy lips. (Proverbs 22:17‑18) tells us, “Apply thine heart unto My knowledge. For it is a pleasant thing if thou keep them within thee; they shall withal be fitted in thy lips.”
ML-07/15/2007