78 



ELEMENTARY STUDIES IN INSECT LIFE 



FIG. 62. A worker bee. X 2. 



in the pupal stage. 

 The worker, as its 

 name implies, is the 

 laborer of the hive. 

 It gathers all the 

 honey, the pollen, the 

 propolis or bee-glue, 

 carries water, secretes 

 wax, builds comb, pre- 

 pares food, nurses the young brood, defends the hive, 

 and cleans house. The workers are busy night and day. 

 In a well-regulated colony the division of labor is as 

 follows: The first work the young bee performs after 

 it is two or three days old is to prepare food and feed 

 the larva? in the cells ; its next duty, when ten or twelve 

 days old, is to secrete wax and build the comb ; at 

 about twenty days old it becomes a honey-gatherer from 

 the field. The young bee is easily known by the pale 

 color and lack of strength ; in a few days it becomes 

 stronger and is well covered with hair ; the aged worker 

 is known by its tattered wings and 

 bald body. The average life of the 

 worker is about five weeks. If you 

 will sit somewhere between the hive 

 and the bee pastures you will fre- 

 quently see the old bald bees falling 

 by the wayside ; their strength is ex- 

 hausted and their wings are no 

 longer fit for duty. 



Bees, like people, have disposi- 



Fio. 63. Secretion of 



tions; they have moods. These dis- wax scales. (Enlarged, 



from "Illustrirte Bie- 



positions seem to be transmitted nen-zeitung.) 



