50 THE FLORIDA BUGGIST 
Of all the lower animals, bees are the most highly developed 
in certain ways, especially with regard to the spirit of com- 
munism, which is wonderful. One of the most remarkable 
peculiarities of bees, which is also shared by social insects such 
as ants, wasps and termites, is that there are three distinct kinds 
of individuals in the community, for in addition to the males 
and females which are the reproducing members of the colony, 
there is a third class which performs the labors of the com- 
munity. These, commonly known as workers, are really unde- 
veloped queens or unsexed females. In the termites the work- 
ers are both females and males. 
The queen bee is the acme of a long period of development. 
She may actually be the mother of all her subjects. Too much 
care cannot be given to the selection of the queen, or mother bee, 
of the colony, for her blood is in their blood, her faults their 
faults, and her weaknesses their weaknesses. The mature or 
laying queen is a very graceful insect, her body is long and 
pointed and extends far beyond the tips of her closed wings. 
It requires about fifteen days for her to emerge from her cell 
after the egg has been laid. After several days she mates with 
a drone outside of the hive high up in the air on what is known 
as the “flight”. During her life, which is sometimes less than 
a month, but generally two or three years, and occasionally more 
than five years, she mates with a drone only once. 
Of all the inmates of the hive, the lot of the drones is the 
least enviable, for the reason that one only will fulfill the destiny 
as father of the hive; many are born only to be slain when the 
honey harvest is low. In appearance, the drone differs much 
from the queen and the workers. He is broad and the rear end 
of his body blunt. He is made for a life of idleness, his hind 
legs bear no pollen baskets, his tongue is so short that he could 
not reach the nectar inside the blossoms even if he wanted to 
do so, and he has no wax glands such as the worker has for 
secreting wax, and he cannot fight his enemies because he has 
no sting. His only accomplishment is his buzz. He generally 
lives until the workers decide they cannot afford to keep him 
any longer. In a queenless colony he may live six months. 
In the bee community all the work is carried on by neuters, or 
unsexed females. The life history of the worker is usually as 
follows: The cell in which she is developed is the smallest of 
