1857.] The Honey Bee. 213 



imparting often most exquisite pleasure ; we propose to give to our 

 readers, through successive numbers of our Journal, a few brief 

 articles, of a physico- practical character, in relation to it. Believ- 

 ing that the singular instincts, together with those facts which relate 

 to the proper and economical management of this tiny insect will 

 pay perusal. 



In a swarm, or community of bees, there are found three sorts of 

 individuals. The queen, the drone, — and what are improperly call- 

 ed neuters^ more correctly undeveloped females. The queen is the 

 mother bee ; she la3^s all the eggs, and without her presence a hive 

 is literally useless. She exercises, as her name imports, a controll- 

 ing influence over the entire community. The drone is the male 

 bee, and lives but a brief period, lives, while he lives, in common 

 parlance a gentleman; eats but does not work, and when his single 

 office is performed, the workers sting and wori-y him to death, and 

 drag him out from the hive. We have often seen two bees unitedly 

 lay hold of a drone, and often carrying him high into the air drop 

 him upon the ground ; but they generally seem content to simply 

 exclude him from the pale of their community. This distinction of 

 drones takes place generally the last of July, or first of August. 



The workers are no doubt females as before observed, in an im- 

 perfect state, and seem to know nothing else than to work without 

 intermission, and without discouragement as long as the hive has a 

 queen, or there exists the capability of forming one. In so much is 

 this their irresistible instinct, that you may tear down their combs, 

 and remove their entire store, and in ten minutes they will be ar- 

 ranged in order, and all intent and courageous in their work, as if 

 nothing had happened. When disturbed they will plunge into the 

 half-filled combs and engorge themselves, that they may have where- 

 with to restore as much as possible, their plundered domain. When 

 they swarm the same is true, they always fill their honey sacks to 

 their utmost distention in order to have a store upon which to com- 

 mence their new work. 



A good community of bees consists of one queen and about 20,000 

 workers, and in the midst of the working season, from three to eight 

 hundred drones. The queen, drones, and workers are quite dis- 

 tinguishable to the most superficial observer. But as there is but 

 one queen to so large a number, it is pretty difficult to see her, and 

 we have seen not a few, skeptical as to her very existence. Goine: 

 Tipon the unsafe principle of believing only what is furnished by the 



