342 



ANNUAL REPORT OF THE 



Off. Doc. 



THE QUEEN 



Is not a (luccn at all in the oidiiiaiy acceptation of the term. She 

 doos not rule. Her sole business is to lay eggs. Beginning some- 

 times as early as January or February, she lays a very few eggs in 



the center of the cluster, 

 and by and by the num- 

 ber is increased to 100 

 dailv; then as the activ- 

 ity of the colony in- 

 creases with warm 

 weather, the daily lay- 

 ing increases to 200, 500, 

 1,000, and when all con- 

 ditions are favorable, 

 the hive being crowded 

 with bees, the flowers 

 vielding abundance of 

 nectar, the daily output 

 of eggs from one queen 

 may be 3,000 or more. 

 She continues laying un- 

 til fall. But laying eggs is 

 all she does. When busy 

 at it, she does uo^ even 

 feed herself. The work- 

 ers offer her food from 

 time to time, and save 

 her the trouble of di- 

 gesting it by giving her that which is already digested. Nor are these 

 eggs such very small affairs, for they are large enough so that the 

 amount daily laid will exceed the weight of the queen's body, each 

 t'i;S being one-fourteenth of an inch long and one-seventieth of an inch 

 in diameter. The queen is recognized by her longer body and com- 

 j)aratively short wings. 



QUEEN. 

 (By permission from Koot's A B C of Bee Culture.) 



THE DRONES 



Are the male members of the family. Beyond helping to keep up 

 the heat of the hive, they are of no service whatever inside, their 

 sole purpose being to fertilize the queen, the meeting taking place 



