Cooperative Work with Columbia TIniversity 421 



at the end of the breeding season they are driven out and destroyed 

 by the workers. They are consumers — not producers — and are 

 never tolerated during a drought or a famine. 



WORK AND habits OF THE QUEEN 



At the approach of spring — in this climate about the middle 

 of March — the queen begins her work of laying eggs ; the workers 

 look for the first opening buds on the willows and the maples and 

 bring in the pollen with which to prepare food to nourish the little 

 larvae as soon as hatched. Day by day as warm weather ap- 

 proaches, their activity increases, each day beholding the birth 

 of thousands of little workers ready to buckle on the armor and 

 assume the duties of the old bees, which are now rapidly dying 

 away. 



Fig. 564. — Queeiv Workek 



Drone 



In a few weeks we have an entirely new population in the hive, 

 the queen being the only one remaining from the previous year. 

 At the opening of fruit bloom and clover, the hive has become so 

 densely crowded that it is quite impractical for the family circle 

 longer to remain in one house, hence what is called the " swarm- 

 ing impulse " pervades the colony. Preparations for this great 

 event are accordingly made, which consists in rearing young queen 

 bees to succeed the old mother, who will leave the hive with the 

 first swarm. 



The eggs for the young queens are laid in specially prepared 

 cells, called " queen cells." When hatched, the larva is fed upon 

 special food called " royal jelly," and it becomes a fully-developed 

 female bee. 



SWARMING 



During the process of maturing the young queen and before it 

 emerges from its cell, a large pert of the bees, inspired by the 



