14 BERS. 
BEE BEHAVIOR. 
The successful manipulation of bees depends entirely on a knowl- 
edge of their habits. This is not generally recognized, and most of the 
literature on practical bee keeping consists of sets of rules to guide 
manipulations. This is too true of the present paper, but is due to a 
desire to make the bulletin short and concise.. While this method 
usually answers, it is nevertheless faulty, in that, without a knowledge 
of fundamental principles of behavior, the bee keeper is unable to 
recognize the seemingly abnormal phases of activity, and does not 
know what to do under such circumstances. Rules must, of course, 
be based on the usual behavior. By years of association, the bee 
keeper almost unconsciously acquires a wide knowledge of bee behay- 
ior, and consequently is better able to solve the problems which con- 
stantly arise. However, it would save an infinite number of mis- 
takes and would add greatly to the interest of the work if more time 
were expended on a study of behavior; then the knowledge gained 
can be applied to practical manipulation. 
A colony of bees consists normally of one queen bee, the mother of 
the colony, and thousands of sexually undeveloped females called 
workers, which normally lay no eggs, but gather the stores, keep the 
hive clean, feed the young, and do the nehes work of the hive. During 
part of the year there are also present some hundreds of males or 
drones (often removed or restricted in numbers by the bee keeper) 
whose only service is to mate with young queens. These three types 
are easily recognized, even by a novice. In nature the colony lives 
in a hollow tree or other cavity, but under manipulation thrives in the 
artificial hives provided. The combs which form their abode are 
composed of wax secreted by the workers. The hexagonal cells of 
the two vertical layers constituting each comb have interplaced ends 
on a common septum. In the cells of these combs are reared the 
developing bees, and here are stored honey and pollen for food. 
The cells built naturally are not all of the same size, those used in 
rearing worker bees being about one-fifth of an inch across, and those 
used in rearing drones and in storing honey about one-fourth of an 
inch across (fig. 10). The storage cells are more irregular, and gen- 
erally curve upward at the outer end. Under manipulation, the size 
of the cells is controlled by the bee keeper by the use of comb founda- 
tion—sheets of pure beeswax on which are impressed the bases of cells 
and on which the bees build the side walls. 
In the North, when the activity of the spring begins, the normal 
colony consists of the queen and some thousands of workers. As the 
workers bring in early pollen and honey, the queen begins to lay eggs 
in the worker cells. These in time develop into white larve, which 
grow to fill the cells. They are then capped over and transform 
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