114 Journal of Agriciiliure. Victoria. [lo Feb., 1912^ 



bees and the only fully-developed female. The workers are sexually un- 

 developed females, and constitute the largest part of the colony, numbering: 

 from 40,000 to 70,000 in a strong colony in the height of the .sea.son. 

 On the average, it takes 4,500 worker bees to equal one pound in weight. 

 The drones, which are of larger size than the workers, are the males, and 

 their only use in the economy of the hive is to mate with the virgin queen. 

 Towards autumn, when they are no longer required, or at anv time during 

 a scarcity of nectar, they are driven out of the hive by the workers and 

 left to die of starvation, except in the case of a colony with an old or 

 failing queen, or a queenless stock. Both of these will retain their 

 drones and also admit these expelled from other hives — a provision of 

 Nature to enable the mating of the future young queen to take place. 



Life History. 



A knowledge of the life historv of bees will assist any one to better 

 understand what conditions are necessary to the highest welfare of the 

 colony and the maximum profit to the bee-keeper. While such knowledge- 



/ 



WORKER BEE, QUEEN AND DRONE OF THE ITALIAN BEE. 



will not take the place of practical experience in the management of bees,, 

 it will form a good basis for an understanding of the various mani- 

 pulations. 



The bee, like other insects, goes through four stages of development, 

 viz.. (i) egg. (2) larva, (3) chrysalis, and (4) imago or perfect insect. 



The ovaries of the queen contain up to 500,000 eggs, which she 

 deposits in the cells of the comb during the breeding sea.son — after the 

 cells have been prepared for her by the worker bees. The life of a 

 queen bee is about three years. Under the most favorable conditions, she 

 will deposit up to 3,000 eggs in twenty-four hours. The eggs in the 

 ovaries of the queen are all alike as to sex. The act of fertilization 

 takes place in the oviduct when the egg is on its way out, i.e., it is ta 

 produce a female — a queen or a worker bee ; the egg producing a drone 

 is not fertilized. Thus, even a queen which has never met a drone will, 

 after a delav of two or three weeks, deposit eggs. None of these, how- 

 ever, can produce anything but drones. This reproduction without fer- 

 tilization was first discovered bv Dr. D;^ierszcn in 1853. It is knowit 

 as parthenogenesis cr virgin-development, and has a verv important hearing; 

 on practical bee culture. 



