BUSY BEES. 93 



ble home, does some valuable work, though she has no 

 honey to spare. Because she has a longer tongue than 

 the honey bee has, she can reach the nectar in the deep 

 corolla of a red clover flower ; and in so doing she car- 

 ries the pollen from one stem to another, thus enabling 

 the flower to bear seed. No bumble bees, no clover 

 seed. The people in New Zealand tried to raise clover 

 and failed. Why? The bumble bee was not there. 

 So they imported her, and, doubtless, were happy in 

 their sweet-scented crops of red clover. Truly great is 

 Bombus ! But we must let her go. 



Queen. Drone. Worker. 



The hive bee is our busy, curious, wonderful honey- 

 maker. The honey bee is a trinity the queen, the 

 drone, and the worker. All the three are necessary to 

 the life and prosperity of the colony, which may con- 

 tain fifty thousand busy people. The picture shows 

 the form peculiar to each of the three. The queen 

 is the mother of the whole colony. The worker-bees 

 respect and love her because she is mother. She 

 does not rule the workers, nor does she direct their 

 movements. The bee-government is purely a govern- 

 ment by the people. The workers can get rid of the 

 queen or make a new queen when they choose. 



The workers are females, but as a rule lay no eggs. 



