THE APIAEY. 321 



The worker bees never attain a great age. Those reared in autumn may live 

 for nine months^ while those hrcd in sjDring will wear out in three. ]S[one of the 

 Avorker hecs gurvive the year through. So there is a limit to the number which 

 may exist in a colony. Their longevity dej)ends upon their activity, and hence 

 upon the time of year in which they live. 



The function of the worker bees is to do all the manual labor of the hive. 

 Tliey secrete the wax, which forms in small pellets beneath the abdomen, build 

 the comb, feed the young bees, or, rather, the larvee, and cap tlie cells, whether 

 they be brood or honey cells. Thus far the work is done by the younger bees. 

 The older bees gather the honey, collect the pollen, or bee-bread, as it is gen- 

 erally called, bring in the propolis, or bee-glue, which is used to close up open- 

 ings, and as a cement, supply the hive A\ith water, defend the hive from all 

 improper intrusion, destroy drones when their day of grace is past, kill and 

 arrange for replacing wortliless queens, and lead forth a portion of the bees 

 when the conditions impel them to swarm. 



THE DRONES. 



The male bees (Fig. 6) are only found in the hive from May till November, 

 when there will be a fevf hundred, though the number may be 

 controlled by the Apiarist, and should l^e greatly reduced. 

 These are longer than the workers, being nearly f of an inch 

 in length and more bulky than either the queen or neuters. 

 Their flight is heaA-y, and they may be known by their deep, 

 low hum. Their tongue is short, jaws weak, and their posterior 

 fkTg. ' members destitute of pollen baskets. The eyes me^t above, and 

 are very prominent. The drones, too, have no defense organ, the sting being 

 absent. 



The male bees come from unimpregnated eggs, a fact which, though it almost 

 staggers credulity, is easily proved, and beyond question. These eggs may come 

 from an unimpregnated queen, a fertile worker, — for very rarely a worker bee 

 will deposit eggs, such bees douljtless meeting in part the conditions which we 

 shall see in the sequel produce queens, — or from an impregnated queen, which may 

 voluntarily prevent impregnation. Such eggs are placed in the larger horizontal 

 cells (Fig. 11) in the same manner as the Avorker eggs are placed in the smaller 

 cells. The capping of the drone cells is very convex, and protrudes beyond the 

 general level of the comb, so that drone brood is very easily distinguished from 

 AVorker, and, from the darker color of the capping, both drone and worker brood 

 are very readily distinguished from honey. The development of the drones 

 from egg to larva, to pupa, and to imago, is essentially like that of the Avorkers, 

 though they do not come forth till the twenty-fourth day from the laying of the 

 egg. Of course diiference of temperature and other conditions may slightly 

 advance or retard the dcA'clopment of any brood in the different stages. The 

 drones, — in fact all bees, — AA'hen they first emerge from the cells, are gray, soft, 

 and aj)pear misoxDhisticatcd generally. 



Just AA'hat the longevity of the male bee is I am unable to state. They 

 appear in May and are destroyed in October and November. It is not improb- 

 able that some may live during the entire time. 



The function of the drones is solely to impregnate the queens. Tliis is done 



on the Aving, outside the hive, usually during the heat of Avarm,^ sunshiny days. 



After mating, the drone organs adhere to the queen, and their abstraction is 



fatal to the life of the drone. As a queen never meets but a single drone, and 



41 



