THE HONEY-BEE. 35 



The workers are the smallest bees in the hire, and by 

 far the most numerous ; they have a longer lip for sucking 

 honey than either of the others ; their thighs are furnished 

 with a brush for the reception of the pollen of flowers, and 

 their sting is straight. The workers do the entire work of 

 the community ; they build the cells, guard the hive and 

 the queen, collect and store the honey, elaborate the wax, 

 feed the young, kill the drones, &c. The average number 

 of these three kinds of bees in a hive is one queen, 2,000 

 drones, and 20,000 workers. The eggs are long, slightly 

 curved, and of a blueish colour; when laid, they are 

 covered with a glutinous matter, which instantly dries, at- 

 taching them to the bottom of the cell. 



For eleven months the queen lays only workers' eggs ; 

 afterwards, those which produce drones : as soon as this 

 change has taken place, the workers begin to construct 

 royal cells, in which, without discontinuing to lay the 

 drones' eggs, the queen deposits here and there, about once 

 in three days, an egg which is destined to produce a queen. 

 The workers' eggs hatch in a few days, and produce little 

 white maggots, which immediately open their mouths to be 

 fed ; these the workers attend to with untiring assiduity : 

 in six days each maggot fills up its cell ; it is then roofed 

 in by the workers, spins a silken cocoon, and becomes a chry- 

 salis : and on the twenty-first day it comes forth a perfect 

 bee. The drones emerge on the twenty-fifth day, and the 

 queens on the sixteenth. 



It has been already stated, that the queen, for nearly a 

 year, lays no eggs that are destined to produce queens ; it 

 therefore follows, that if any evil befall her, the hive is 

 left without a queen : it sometimes happens that she dies, 

 or is taken away by the owner of the hive, to observe the 

 result. For twelve hours little notice is taken of the loss ; 

 it appears not to be known, and the workers labour as 



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