Bee

      The bee a common insect of which the honeybee and bumblebee are the best known species. There are probably not less than 5,000 species scattered over all parts of the world, but they are especially numerous in the tropics. Bees naturally divide themselves into two classes: solitary bees, which live in pairs, and those which live in colonies or societies. The carpenter bee and mason bee are good representatives of the first class.

6 Important Facts About The Honeybee:

1. The honeybee has always been regarded as the most intelligent of insects, and it has been partially domesticated from the earliest times.
2. Honeybees live in large colonies or societies, numbering from 10,000 to 60,000 individuals.
3. In bee culture such a colony is known as a swarm.
4. In every swarm there are three kinds of bees: the queen, which is the female bee that lays the eggs from which the colony is born; the males or drones, so called because of the low humming sound which they make, and the workers, which are by far the largest number.
5. There is only one queen to a swarm.
6. The males may number several hundred, but at a certain season every year most of these are stung to death by the workers, who with the queen are provided with stings.

       It is upon leaf-cutting bees, the workers, that the real strength of the swarm depends. They are the smallest, strongest and most active of the three classes. The queen during the season may lay as many as 300 eggs in a single day, but in cold weather, the number is much less. From the eggs first laid come the workers, and from the later ones, drones. The eggs are deposited in cells prepared by the workers, one to each cell. One set of cells is constructed for workers and another for drones and the queen never makes a mistake in depositing the eggs. The eggs which are to develop into queens are laid in cells much larger than the others, but they will not differ from those laid in the other cells, and the queen is developed by feeding the larva on a special food.

       The eggs are about one-twelfth of an inch long, of a bluish color and oblong in shape. They hatch in about three days. The larvae are fed by the workers for about five days, the food consisting of honey and pollen, called beebread. When the larva has grown so as to fill the cell, the workers seal it up and leave it for about two weeks, when the bee comes forth in the adult state. As the swarm becomes too large for the home in which it lives, a new queen is allowed to appear, and in a short time after this, on a bright, warm day, the old queen leaves the hive with a large portion of the swarm and seeks a new home for herself or enters one that the bees have found beforehand. In one season as many as three successive swarms may leave the same colony. During the winter the bees remain asleep, move about but little and eat little food.

       Bees obtain their food by entering flowers and sucking up and swallowing the nectar, which is stored in the stomach-like honey bag. The hind legs are also provided with little cavities, called baskets, in which the bees store pollen for transit to the home. The bee, after gathering what pollen and honey it can carry, rises into the air, flies in a circle for a few times around, then, having found its bearings, flies home in a perfectly straight line; hence the expression bee line. Bee hunters take advantage of this habit to locate swarms and stores of honey.

       On entering and leaving the flowers, bees get dusted with pollen, and as it is their habit to work but one species of flower at a time, they are important agents in the cross- fertilization of flowers; in fact, such plants as clover cannot be successfully grown with- out the aid of bees.

       Bees are liable to be destroyed by the larvae of a moth which enters the hives at night and lays its eggs. The larvae bun-ow out through the cells and sometime kill an entire swarm. Occasionally in winter mice find their way into the hives and feed upon the bees and honey. Lice and several species of flies and birds also destroy bees.

Leaf cutter bee video by ResonatingBodies

Domestic Cats

       Cat, the name of the commonest of the household pet animals, is also applied to the family to which the cat belongs. This family includes the fiercest wild animals known, including the lion, tiger and panther. 

8 Fast Facts About House Cats:

1. It is believed that tho cat was originally domesticated in Egypt, where it was loved and venerated. The domestic cat belongs to a genus better armed for destruction of animal life.
2. Among the various breeds or races of cats, the tailless cat of the Isle of Man, and the Persian cat, with its long, silky fur, are among the most curious. 
3. The tortoise shell, with its color a mixture of black, white and brownish or fawn color, the large Angora and the blue, or Carthusian, and Maltese cats, with long, soft, grayish-blue fur, are other well-known species. 
4.  The short and powerful jaw, sharp, pointed teeth, sharp claws and strong muscles make it a fierce enemy of birds and other small animals.
5. Birds have no greater enemy, and one cat often drives the beautiful, friendly singing birds from a whole neighborhood. 
6. The cat is usually regarded as less intelligent than the dog, but possibly it has equal intelligence of another kind. 
7. It seems to have little real affection for mankind, though it enjoys being petted and shows signs of jealousy if neglected. 
8. It does become strongly attached to places, and it often will desert its friends who have removed, and return to the strangers who occupy its old home.

More About House Cats:

• Domestic cat information from big cat rescue
• Where do domestic cats come from?
• Craft a Cat Scratching Post for Your Dolls
• Color the things that are black, including a cat...
• The Naughty Kitten-Cat Poem
• Paint a peppermint striped kitty for the Christmas tree
• Raggedy Ann and The Kittens
• Color-by-number: Beware of Cat

Pole Cat

A pole cat is a small animal .of the weasel family. The common polecat is found in most parts of Europe, except the extreme south. It is about seventeen inches long, with long, coarse brown fur, which grows blackish on the feet and tail. A superior kind of artists' brush is made from the hairs. The polecat possesses an odor something like that of the American skunk, and hence in the United States the skunk is often called the polecat. It is very destructive to poultry, rabbits, rats and mice, and also feeds on snakes, frogs, fish and eggs.

• What is a polecat?
• Discover Wildlife: European polecat guide

Pointer

A pointer is a hunting dog, so called because it stops short at the sight of game and points toward it with its nose. It has a smooth coat of short hair, and is marked, usually black and white, like the fox hound. The tail is slender and stiff; the ears, large and drooping. The dogs have a very keen sense of smell and are unerring in locating game.

• Loyal, Hardworking, Even-Tempered
• The Cutest German Shorthaired Pointer Puppies

Centipede

       The centipede is a creature which has many feet and a body consisting of numerous similar rings or segments, each of which bears a pair of legs. The common centipede, found in the United States, is quite harmless, but some species of tropical countries inflict severe and often dangerous bites. Some of the latter species grow to a length of eighteen inches. They are savage animals and defend themselves energetically. The name means having a hundred feet, but in reality no species known has more than thirty-one pairs of legs.

Nothing says "Nope, Nope, Nope" like a Centipede!

Billy Basso Bull Frog

Billy Basso
Bull Frog
by Florence M. Pettee

Billy Basso Bullfrog
A-rumbling in the dark,
A-tuning up his viol,
While all the swamp fold hark.

With a pinky and a panky,
And a ga-lum, ga-lum, ga-LUM!
Billy Basso's found his fiddle,
While all the frog folks hum.

With a pinky and a panky,
All the swamp's a lullaby,
With the big bass viol strumming
'Way down where the tadpoles lie.

How Mother Nature Cleans

How Mother Nature Cleans
by Oscar H. Roesner

When Mother Nature cleans the sky
And makes it shiny blue,
So all the stars may twinkle bright,
The sun and moon shine through;
She sprinkles it with showers first,
Next scours with whitest snow,
And then with rough old wind for broom
She sweeps it clean you know.