THE EVOLUTION OF THE BEE AND THE BEEHIVE 



The cocoons for future queens are larger and may be readily 

 recognized. But at present there is no evidence that the 

 queen larva is fed on a special diet. Royalty seems to be 

 inherent in the egg and not induced by special feeding. 

 Unlike the useless and swaggering drone of the honey-bee 

 the male bumble-bee leaves the hive and finds flowers for 

 itself. It is no charge on the resources of the community. 

 Several scores of males and queens are produced, and when 

 hatched out they also leave the hive, are fertilized, and go 

 into winter quarters. The queen ages rapidly; her hair drops 

 off and she gradually ceases to lay eggs. As the new queens 

 grow up on the rich and ample store of food provided in the 

 hive the workers become listless. Flowers are becoming 

 scarce, and one by one the bees grow torpid and drop asleep, 

 and from this sleep there is no awakening. 



The bumble-bee is certainly more human and less exas- 

 perating than the honey-bee. It has none of its monotonous 

 perfection of organization. The queen has something of a 

 mother in her. She is not reduced to a mere egg-laying 

 apparatus, which lays eggs with the regularity and inevitable- 

 ness of a recurring decimal. The bumble-bee queen broods 

 over her young and nurses them with "a mother's tender 

 care." The workers work as hard as do the honey-bees, but 

 they are less self-conscious and less self-satisfied, and the 

 drones at any rate have the grace to provide for themselves 

 during their brief life. One has a feeling that one might 

 appeal to the better instincts of a bumble-bee, but that it 

 would be perfectly useless to make such an appeal to a 

 honey-bee. 



Now let us summarize the results of the research we have 

 made to discover the steps in the evolution of the honey- 

 bee, with its wonderful social system. The most primitive 

 bee makes a small cell or nest in the ground (Fig. 16) , packs 



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