212 Llt?£ StORitS OF AUSTRALIAN INSECTS. 



THE HIVE BEE. 



(Apis mellifica.) 



This is an introduced insect from Europe. 



Bees have reached a very high standard of de- 

 velopment, and they show wonderful social in- 

 stincts. The hive is worked on the principle of 

 the best for the community as a whole. 



Like the vespid social wasps, there are 3 castes: 

 (a) males or ''drones," (b) females or queens, (c) 

 workers. The latter do not lay eggs though they 

 are females ; they take charge of the hive and direct 

 the affairs therein. Each worker bee has some par- 

 ticular task to perform. Some are nurse bees, and 

 their work is to feed and care for the young bee- 

 grubs or larvae. The nurses are the workers which 

 have just emerged from the pupal cells; they act 

 as nurses for about three weeks and have special 

 glands which enable them to specially feed the "baby 

 bees." Later they become foragers, going out 

 to seek for pollen or nectar. Most of the workers 

 seek flower honey or nectar, and in doing so they 

 get dusted with pollen, and so cause cross pollina- 

 tion. Such honey-flowers, which also yield 

 abundant pollen, are sunflower, cosmos, pumpkin- 

 flower, and most of our bush pea-flowers. For the 

 hive bee has extended its visitations to the flowers 

 of the bush ; in some cases it can cause cross-pollin- 



