364 GENERAL BIOLOGY 



feeding, be able to develop and lay eggs, but in such cases the new queen 

 would not have had the nuptial-flight, and therefore no eggs would be 

 fertile. Consequently drones alone are hatched from the eggs. 'V*J* :: 



Drones hatch in the same way that queens and workers do, but take 

 no part in the work of the hive. One of them alone acts as queen-con- 

 sort. As soon as food is scarce they are starved to death and their dead 

 bodies removed with the remaining debris. At such a time even the 

 drone pupae, larvae, and eggs are destroyed. 



As new bees are constantly being hatched, the hive may become 

 cvercrowded. When this occurs it is the old queen which collects several 

 thousand bees about her and goes through a complicated preparation to 

 start a new colony. Scouts are sent out to seek a fitting location, 

 and after first settling on a tree-branch or other object in a very dense 

 cluster, the whole colony takes up its new abode. 



The cells are made of wax. Those \vhich are to have eggs placed 

 in them are hexagonal in shape, although a careful examination will 

 show they all vary slightly from each other. The cells which are to 

 contain honey are rounded. 



The wax is produced by a secretion from the smooth, paired patches 

 called wax-glands on the ventral surface of the abdominal metameres. 

 The process gone through is as follows: The bees gorge themselves 

 with honey. Great clusters of such bees then hang from the top of the 

 hive for several hours when thin scales of wax form on the plates. 

 These scales of wax are then removed by the hind legs, while the fore- 

 legs transport it to the mouth. Here the wax scales are mixed with 

 saliva and kneaded by the mandibles. The wax is then ready either to 

 repair old cells or build new ones. 



The cells may be built especially for honey or for breeding, but 

 often drone cells, even when the cocoon is still present, are used for 

 honey cells. However, cells made especially for honey have the open- 

 ings somewhat above their bases so that the honey will not run "but. 



The cells which fasten the comb to the top and sides of the hive are 

 called attachment cells. 



Bees gather nectar (not honey) from flowers. The maxillae and 

 the labial palpi form a tube through which the tongue can move back- 

 ward and forward. As the epipharynx is lowered, a definite passag'e 

 connects this tube with the oesophagus. The nectar itself becomes at- 

 tached to the hairs on the tongue, and is forced upward by pressing 

 maxillae and palpi together. It is then swallowed into the honey-sac, 

 where the necessary chemical changes which convert it into honey take 

 place. Here it is retained until the bee reaches the hive, when it is re- 

 gurgitated into the cells made to receive it. As there is much water 

 'contained in the newly-formed honey, the cells are left open until the 

 water is considerably evaporated. This is called the "ripening process." 

 'When the honey is "ripe" the cell is capped with wax. 



