Clifton College Scientific Society. 61 



queen, tliougli not so long in the body as tlie latter. The 

 proboscis of the drone is much shorter than that of the 

 "working bee, and therefore some have assumed that he 

 cannot collect any honey even for himself. Others allege 

 that he leaves the hive sometime after eleven o'clock, and 

 that after lazil}' culling the sweets of the flowers all day long, 

 he always retimis before six in the evening. His body is 

 thick, his head round, his eyes large, and his wings are 

 rather longer than his body. The thorax is thickly covered 

 with short brown hairs, and its shape is somewhat flattened. 

 The number of drones in a hive varies from 800 to 2,000, 

 and is not regulated by the size of the swarm. In three 

 days after the egg has been deposited in the cell, the larva is 

 hatched, and on the seventh day after, it spins its cocoon ; 

 having gone through the same metamorphoses as a working 

 bee, it appears on the twenty- fourth day in its perfect form. 

 The drones are bred later than the workers. Towards the 

 end of July, when the drones have accomplished the ob- 

 ject of their creation, they are killed and ejected from the 

 hive, and never is a drone found in a hive later than 

 September, 



The queen bee is longer than either of the others, though 

 her wings are shorter ; she is provided with a sting and with 

 two large ovaria, and is of a dark brown colour. The head 

 is covered thickly with yellow hairs, and on the vertex are 

 three small simple eyes, or stemmata. Her hinder part 

 tapers more than that of the other bees, and is much longer. 

 There is only one full-grown queen in a hive at one time, 

 and she is treated with great care and attention by her sub- 

 jects. If the queen dies, or is removed from a hive, the 

 workers quickly perceive her absence and great commotion 

 ensues ; but within twenty- four hours this ceases, and order 

 is restored, while the workers prepare to replace her loss. 

 The larvae of workers are selected for this pui-pose, and the 

 adjoining cells are enlarged into oval cells forming the royal 

 comb. A peculiar kind of food, which appears to be more 

 stimulating than that given to worker bees, is administered 

 to them. In a few days a tube is formed connecting the cell 

 in which the larva is, with the oval cells already mentioned. 

 Into this the larva makes its way ; and having spun its 

 cocoon, comes forth a perfect insect on the sixteenth day. 

 The other bees undo the covering enclosing the queen, both 

 to free her from the cell in which she has been hatched, and 

 to get rid of the noxiotis effluvium. From the way in which 

 bees replace the loss of their queen, as well as from many 



