THE HYMENOPTERA 367 



ing. One of these is the chance that two young queens may emerge 

 at almost the same time. If this should happen it is stated that the 

 two meet sooner or later and struggle for supremacy until one or the 

 other is killed. A second possibility is that both of the queens may 

 be so injured that they will die, or as probably is more often the case, 

 the queen while out on her mating flight may be killed by a bird or in 

 some other way. In either case the colony becomes queenless as a result. 

 If other queen cells are present in such cases, the workers carry on the 

 work of the hive until the new queen appears, mates and takes charge: 

 but if there ai'e no more queen cells the workers look about for a worker 

 egg or a larva not more than 3 days old. If one is found, its cell walls 

 are torn down and a queen cell built around it and its food is changed 

 from bee bread to royal jelly and in this way a queen will be produced. 

 If an egg or a worker larva under this age cannot be found, however, the 

 colony cannot hope to obtain a queen and it gradually dwindles away and 

 is lost. 



Drones, serviceable to the colony during the swarming season, are 

 not needed thereafter and would consume stores gathered for winter. 

 Therefore after all swarming is over they are dragged out and killed 

 by the workers. 



The value of the honey bee to man comes from the honey and wax 

 it produces. The amount obtained varies greatly from year to year 

 but averages over fifty million pounds a season in the United States 

 and at a recent average retail price of forty cents, would represent about 

 twenty million dollars. This is probably more though, than is actually 

 received by the beekeepers. About a million pounds of wax are now 

 produced annually and at about forty cents per pound this would add 

 nearly half a million dollars more to the value of the industry in this 

 country. 



Superfamily Formicoidea (The Ants). — These familiar and plentiful 

 insects occur from the frigid regions to the equator, being present in 

 abundance practically everywhere, and it has been claimed that there 

 are more individuals of ants than of all other terrestrial animals. They 

 live in colonies which are quite permanent, enduring for many years in 

 some cases, and the life of an individual ant may continue for several 

 years. 



Ants are nearly always easily recognized by the presence of a petiole 

 which is enlarged near or behind its middle (Fig. 386e), being either 

 swollen or having a portion projecting upward there, followed behind 

 by a constriction where this segment joins the rest of the abdomen. 

 In some ants the following segment is also more or less similarly shaped. 

 This gives these insects a rather elongate, narrow portion between the 

 thoracic and abdominal masses, enlarged at one or two places, according 

 to the number of segments concerned. 



