THE EVOLUTION OF THE BEE AND THE BEEHIVE 



the queen late in the summer. The nest is now dying down ; 

 in fact, the activity of the liive lasts only a few months, not 

 all the year round, as does that of the stingless bee. Late in 

 July or August the community begins to rear up queens. 

 Once grown up the queen leaves the nest and hides in some 

 cranny or among some debris. Here she is sought by the 

 male. Once fertilized, the queen abandons the nest, which 

 falls into a state of "death, damnation, and decay." She now 

 seeks winter quarters and, having filled her crop with honey, 

 she goes into retreat for eight or nine months, hiding high up 

 in banks or in burrows under trees. At first she sleeps lightly 

 and can be easily aroused. Later she sinks into a deep 

 lethargy and appears to be dead. But as the spring advances 

 she gradually resumes her activities. She emerges and begins 

 to collect pollen. As the days lengthen her desire to start a 

 colony becomes overwhelming and she seeks a home. She 

 may find some burrow abandoned by a fieldmouse, which is 

 commonly approached by a tunnel. 



Having found her home, she flies backward and forward 

 from it, gradually increasing the length of her trial flights. 

 This she does so that she may find her way home after raid- 

 ing the flowers for pollen and honey. She mixes the two, 

 and in the centre of the nest constructs a small pillar of the 

 resultant paste (Fig. 14), and on this she moulds a circular 

 wall of wax. In this rough, irregularly-shaped cell she lays 

 a batch of eggs, usually about a dozen, and seals them in with 

 wax. She then broods like a hen over the cell and does not 

 leave her offspring night or day except to gather food. But 

 she has to provision the nest, and for this purpose she pre- 

 pares a waxen spherical honey-pot, which may be as big as 

 a thimble. This is a frail affair of thin, soft wax, but it is 

 water-tight and is capable of lasting some weeks. Arriving 

 at the entrance to the nest, the queen refreshes herself as she 



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