POULTKY AND BEES. 491 



reared iu eacli hive, only to be destroyed after the honey season 

 is over and the young queens have been impregnated. They 

 are not producers, but constant consumers. They do no labor 

 whatever. In short, they are drones. They are larger and more 

 clumsy than the workers. {N'o. 5, Fig. 111.) There are some- 

 times several thousand in a hive, but they are soon killed. As 

 they are never allowed to live out their terrh of life, it cannot 

 be said how long they will live. 



4. The Workers constitute the main body of the colony; thev 

 do all the labor of the hive. For the first two weeks after they 

 are hatched they work inside the hive, after which they go out 

 to gather honey. During the working season a worker Heldom 

 lives more than two months, so that the colony is wholly 

 changed (except the queen) several times during the season. A 

 good swarm ought to contain from twenty thousand to thirt}' 

 thousand bees, and previous to swarming they often contain 

 double the above number. The workers have a poisonous 

 sting, which they use for defence, but when carefully handled 

 they will seldom sting. When away from their hives they will 

 never sting, if they can escape without it. When swarming 

 they may be handled, shaken, or brushed, and, unless likely to 

 be crushed, will not attempt to sting. When filled with honey, at 

 any tivie^ they icill not attack^ even in defence of their hi\e and 

 its treasures. They are smaller than the queen or the drone, 

 have a little sac for storing honey and little baskets on their 

 legs for pollen. In Fiy. Ill are seen the proboscis or tongue, 

 the 'honey sac, the sting, etc. 



5. There are four substances secreted or gathered by the bee, 

 and found in every prosperous hive, viz., pollen or bee bread, 

 propolis, wax, and honey. 



6. Pollen is gathered from the blossoms, and is essential in 

 rearing the brood. Unless pollen, or a substitute, is furnished 



