ee- 



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A MONTHLY JOURNAL 



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w. z. HOTCHINSON, Editor and Proprietor. 



VOL X. 



FLINT. MICHIGAN, JULY, 10, 1897, 



NO 7. 



The Will of the Workers : Items in Summer 

 Management. 



ly. A. ASPINWALL. 



HT. LTHOUGH it 

 1"\ is generally 

 iiudei stood that the 

 economy of the 

 hivf i-! under con- 

 trol of the workers, 

 still, not a few be- 

 lieve tha' such mat- 

 ters in which the 

 ijiieen performs a 

 part or function, 

 she may exert a 

 positive guiding 

 intlueuce ; notably, such instances as swarm- 

 ing, leaving the hive for mating, and. al- 

 though to a less degree, in her individual 

 function— egg laying. Seemingly the pos- 

 sessor of a sole function should also possess 

 the right to exercise or use it. In consider- 

 ing the matter of egg laying we have a 

 greater opportunity to ascertain many facts 

 pertaining to the executive or governing 

 power of the workers than in that of swarm- 

 ing or mating of queens. We can begin the 

 season with a small brood nest and carefully 

 note all actions until swarming takes place. 

 During the breeding season doubtless 

 many have noticed the queen surrounded hy 

 a few workers, apparently paying her tokens 

 of respect, and much has been written in 

 confirmation of such theories. However, 



an examination of the colony previous to or 

 after the breeding season will reveal a fact 

 that the workers pay no more attention to 

 the queen than to each other. Still, if de- 

 prived of her presence, they display evident 

 signs of the loss. This, however, simply 

 shows her important relation to the colony, 

 which is recognized by the course of action 

 taken by the bees. 



When the breeding season approaches, the 

 nurse bees supply the queen with an in- 

 creased amount of food, stimulating the 

 ovaries to action and bringing about the 

 laying of eggs. This stimulative feeding is 

 increased until the heighth of the breeding 

 season is reached, at which time her size and 

 brilliancy are much greater than at any 

 other period of the year. A few days previ- 

 vious to swarming this supply of food is 

 withheld, and with the issuing of the swarm 

 we find her much reduced in size, also great- 

 ly inferior as regards color. Bo this retinae 

 surrounding the egg-layer is not doing 

 obeisance, but utilizing their powers of 

 digestion to the furtherance of brood-rear- 

 ing, and are servants, not only to the qneen, 

 but the colony. 



I sometimes regard the qneen as the 

 greater servant, comparing her to the honey 

 ant, which is only a living receptacle filled 

 by the worker ants until the abdomen be- 

 comes distended to an enormous size. Such 

 is the relation of the (jueeu to the colony — 

 she subserves the will of the workers, and in 

 BO doing promotes the general welfare. 



