BEES. 889 



Every swarm or colony of bees is composed of three different kinds, which constitute, 

 to all appearance, that number of different modifications of sex, viz. : the queen, the workers, 

 and the drones. 



The Queen Bee. The queen is the only perfectly-developed female in the hive, and is 

 consequently the mother bee of the colony, although she was called the king by Yirgil, Pliny, 

 and also many other writers as late as the last century. 



In the propagating season she is constantly employed in laying eggs, the number aver- 

 aging from one thousand to two thousand per day. Berlepsch once possessed a queen bee 

 that laid 3,021 eggs in twenty-four hours by actual count, and in twenty days had deposited 

 57,000. This bee continued prolific five years, and must have laid during that time, at a low 

 estimate, more than a million eggs. By such energetic measures, on the part of the queen, 

 the colonies are kept populous. But this instance ranks somewhat above the average, both in 

 the number of eggs laid and the age to which the queen retains possession of her full pow 

 ers, the usual age to which she remains thus useful being about three years, although it is not 

 uncommon for a queen to live to the age of four or five years, the period depending largely 

 upon the natural vigor of the stock. In respect to longevity the queen differs widely from 

 the others of her colony, none of the drones and workers surviving through the year. She 

 is easily distinguished from the others by her larger size and greater length, the abdomen 

 being quite long in proportion to the remainder of the body, while the wings are relatively 

 shorter than those of either the workers or drones, and reach only a little more than half the 

 length of the abdomen. Her mandibles are weaker than those of the workers, and her 

 tongue or ligula, as well as the labial palpi and maxillae, are considerably shorter. Her eyes, 

 like those of the working bee, are smaller than those of the drone. 



QUEEN BEE. WORKER. DRONE. 



She is provided with a sting, like the workers, although it is much longer, and resem 

 bles that of the bumble-bee in being curved. Like that of the latter also and the wasp, it 

 has but few projections pointing backward like the barb of a fish-hook, which prevent its 

 withdrawal when it is once fairly inserted. The sting of the workers has seven prominent 

 barbs on each side, while there are three on those of the queen. There is generally but one 

 perfect queen existing at one time in each hive, and she seems to be treated by all the others 

 with marked affection and deference. If an extra queen should be introduced into a hive 

 already supplied, the two rivals would meet in mortal combat and fight until one was killed; 

 the survivor would then be received as the accepted sovereign of the hive. * 



There is so much jealousy displayed by the queen of the hive towards others of the 

 sex that, when the pupa of a future queen is sufficiently developed to emerge from its 

 imprisoned cell, it is often prevented from so doing by a guard who hold their royal prisoner in 

 bondage until after the queen mother has left the hive to conduct a swarm forth, thus removing 

 all danger. In order to prevent the young queen from escaping her cell in such time of 

 danger, the workers sometimes strengthen it with an additional covering of wax, perforating 

 it with a small opening, through which she can thrust out her tongue to be fed by those that 



