The Habits of the Honeijhce 19 



cycle is again repeated. Such is the activity of bees 

 under favorable circumstances; but, needless to say, 

 this ideal condition is not always realized, and we will 

 now follow colonies under other conditions to see what 

 happens. 



Let us take a colony with a virgin queen like the one 

 left after the swarm was cast. It sometimes happens 

 that the queen is defective in some way, so that she can 

 not fly from her hive to meet a drone. This may be 

 caused by mutilated or weak wings, or possibly the 

 queen shows no disposition to fly. On the other hand, 

 the weather may not be favorable for her flight, or 

 there may be drones in the air when she does fly. 

 Evidently, any of these conditions will prevent suc- 

 cessful mating; and when this occurs we are enabled 

 to see one of the most remarkable phenomena of the 

 hive. The observer who wishes to study this phase of 

 bee activity may bring about the same conditions by 

 cutting off the wings of the queen, or by covering the 

 entrance with zinc jDerforated with holes, which allows 

 the workers to pass freely, but which confines the 

 queen to the hive, so that it is not necessary to depend 

 on chance to bring about what w^e are now to observe. 



If a queen remains unmated for a period of three 

 weeks she is incapable of mating, and loses all desire 

 to leave tlie hive to meet a drone. After that time she 

 may begin to lay eggs, but, strangely enough, these 

 e^P produce nothing but drones, and the queen is then 

 known as a " drone-layer." Obviously, then, drones 

 are produced from eggs which have not been fertilized. 

 Not all unmated queens become drone-layers; in fact, 

 many queens die if not mated, and many others never 

 lay at all; but if any eggs are laid they produce only 

 drones. The irerson wishing to verify this strange 



