THE BEE 



71 



The Work of the Queen. The queen is the mother 

 hee, and she lays all the eggs. It is said that a queen 

 bee has laid more than three thousand eggs in a 

 single day. There are some seasons when she does 

 not lay so many, and there are other seasons when 

 she does not lay at all ; but it does not take long for 

 her family to become too large for the hive. 



Why Bees Swarm. When the family becomes too 

 big, they form a new family, or, in other words, they 

 *^ swarm. *' (Fig. 46.) A cloud of bees ,comes out 

 of the hive and lights on a near-by bush. From 



Courtesy of "Beo Ciilmrp." Medina. Ohio 



Fk;. 40, A .stand of bees near the swarmivg time. 



