THE BEE FAMILY 



as they work themselves to death, and it has 

 been estimated that a dessert-spoonful of honey 

 represents the life-work of each field bee. 



The drones are reared from infertile eggs, 

 and are the male or father bees, and during the 

 early spring and breeding season are present 

 in large numbers. It takes about twenty-four 

 days for the drone egg to develop into a fully 

 matured bee, and though the cappings to their 

 cells are raised much higher than those of the 

 worker cells, they are porous and made of the 

 same material. 



They are in every sense of the word gentle- 

 men of leisure, as all of the work of gathering 

 pollen, propolis, honey, nursing the larvae, as 

 well as defending the hives, devolves upon 

 the workers. As sentinels the drones would 

 be useless, as they have no stings, and can be 

 handled with ease; it is perhaps this lack of 

 defence that makes them manifest signs of 

 fright when we take them in our hands. While 

 the drones do no work and are large con- 

 sumers of honey, yet their presence in the hive 



51 



