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Nectar, which fluoresces in the visible and absorbs in the ultraviolet spectrum when irradiated by ultraviolet light, occurs in many bee-pollinated plants. It is suggested that these characteristics function as direct visual cues by which bees can evaluate the quantities of nectar available. Thus, they assume an important role in pollination of the flowers and foraging efficiency of beers.

Hydrocarbons of worker honeybees of known pedigree were extracted and analyzed using gas chromatography and mass spectrometry. Variability in hydrocarbon extracts of individual workers is determined at least in part genetically. Correlations in hydrocarbon composition of extracts were highest among more closely related individuals. Individuals maintained in groups exchange hydrocarbons but still maintain enough self-produced compounds to retain genetically determined individual characteristics. These results demonstrate that extractable hydrocarbons of bees provide sufficiently reliable genetic information to function as labels for use during kin recognition.

The importance of insects in the pollination of soybeans [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] was studied over a year period by comparing the yields from plots caged with honey bees (Apis mellifera L.), plots without bees and without insects (insecticide treatment), and open plots. The pollinating activity of bees resulted in significantly greater yields from ‘Corsoy’ and ‘Hark’ cultivars but not from ‘Chippewa 64.’The foraging activity of bees on soybeans was dependent on the floral response of each cultivar to the environment. Hark had a high percentage of dissolved solids in the nectar and the highest quantity of nectar/floret.

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Group O‐III cultivars of soybean, Glycine max (L.) Merr., screened for floral variability (e.g. flower size, color, abundance, cleistogamy, aroma, ncctar production, and blossom sequence) demonstrated a continuum between extreme limits for most of these factors. Cultivars potentially attractive to honey bees (Apis mellifera L.) were ranked from high to low, based on their rate of nectar secretion. The responses of late flowering under fluorescent light and temperature insensitivity at flowering (noncleistogamic) were found to be associated with higher production of nectar, which suggests possible methods of screening for potential bee attractiveness. The effect of weather in Wisconsin on the flowering and bee visitation for one soybean cultivar was studied in detail. Here, flowers failed to open and nectar secretion ceased at daily mean ambient temperatures below 21 C.

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