in turn, but never intermitted ; in wliatever 

 direction she wishes to travel, these guards 

 clear the way before her, always with the 

 utmost courtesy turning their faces towards 

 her ; and when she rests from her labors, 

 approaching her with humility, licking her 

 face, mouth, and eyes, and appearing to 

 fondle her witii their antennae. (3.) 



The drones are all males ; they are 

 smaller than the queen, but larger than the 

 workers ; they live on the honey of flowers, 

 but bring none home, and are wholly use- 

 less, except as being the fathers of the 

 future progeny ; when this object is accom- 

 plished, they are destroyed by the workers. 



<4.) 



A buzzing commences in the hive, the 

 drones and the workers sally forth together, 

 grapiile each other in the air, hug and 

 scume for a minute, during which opera- 

 tion the stings of the workers are plunged 

 into the sides of the drones, who, over- 

 powered by the poison, almost instantly 

 die. (5.) 



The workers are the smallest bees in the 

 hive, and by far the most numerous ; they 

 have a longer lip for sucking honey than 

 either of the others ; their thighs are fur- 

 nished 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 3 kinds of bees in a hive is, 1 queen, 

 2,0G0 drones, and 20,000 workers. The 

 eggs are long, slightly curved, and of a 

 bluish color ; when laid, they are covered 

 with a glutinous matter, which instantly 

 dries, attaching them to the bottom of the 

 cell. 



For 11 months the queen lays only work- 

 ers' eggs ; afterwards, those which produce 

 drones ; as soon as tliis change has taken 

 place, the workers begin to construct royal 

 cells, in which, without discontinuing to 

 lay drones' eggs, the queen deposits here 

 and there, about once in 3 days, an egg 

 wliich is destined to produce a queen. (6.) 



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 6 days each maggot fills up 

 its cell ; it is then roofed in by the workers, 

 spins a silken cocoon, and becomes a chrys- 

 alis ; and on the 21st day it comes forth a 

 perfect bee. The drones emerge on the 25th 

 day, and the queens on the 10th. 



When the queen bee has an inclination tq 

 deposit her eggs, she goes forth, accom- 

 panied by 6 or 8 working bees as a guard, 

 wliose stomachs are filled with honey. She 

 is very deliberate in her motions, and seems 

 to proceed with great caution. She first 

 looks into a cell, and if she finds it perfectly 

 empty, she draws up her body, inserts her 

 abcfomen into the cell and deposits an egg. 

 In this way she slowly proceeds till she has 

 dropped 10 or 12 eggs, when perhaps feeling 

 exhausted, she is fed by one of the attend- 

 ant bees, who have surrounded her all the 

 time. This is done by the bee ejecting the 

 honey from its stomach into the mouth of 

 the queen. When this has been done, the 



bee goes away and another takes its place. 

 The operation of laying lier eggs again 

 goes on, and is succeeded by the same 

 mode of feeding, the attendant bees fre- 

 quently touching the antenna; of the queen 

 with their own. 



When the operation of laying the eggs is 

 completed— and it generally occupies some 

 time— the queen retires to that part of the 

 hive which is most filled with bees. — 

 During her progress, the surface of the 

 comb is very little intruded upon, and the 

 space seems purposely to be left unoccu- 



Eied. Some few of the cells, liowever, in a 

 rood-comb, are passed over by the queen, 

 and afterwards filled either with honey or 

 farina. These serve as deposits of food, 

 from which the neighboring brood may be 

 fed more readily, as such cells are never 

 covered with wax. 



It has been already stated, that the queen, 

 for nearly a year, lays no eggs that are 

 destined to produce queens. (7.) It there- 

 fore 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 12 liours, little notice is taken of the 

 loss ; it appears not to be known, and the 

 workers labor as usual. After that period, 

 a hubbub commences ; work is abandoned ; 

 the whole hive is in an uproar ; every bee 

 traverses the hive at random, and with the 

 most evident want of purpose. This state 

 of anarchy sometimes continues for 2 days ; 

 then the bees gather in clusters of a dozen 

 or so, as though engaged in consultation, 

 the result of whieh seems to be a fixed res- 

 olution to supply her loss. A few of the 

 workers repair to the cells in which are 

 depsited the eggs of the workers ; 3 of these 

 cells are quickly broken into one, the edges 

 polished, and the sides smoothed and 

 rounded, a single egg being allowed to 

 remain at the bottom. When this egg 

 hatches, the maggot is fed with a peculiar 

 nutritive food, called royal bee-bread, 

 which is never given to any maggots but 

 such as are to produce queens. Work is 

 now resumed over the whole hive, and goes 

 on as briskly as before. On the 16th day 

 the egg produces a queen, whose appear- 

 ance is hailed with every demonstration of 

 delight, and who at once assumes the cares 

 of a mother over the hive. When, under 

 ordinary circumstances, a young queen 

 emerges from the chrysalis, the old one 

 frequently quits the hive, heading the first 

 swarm for the season, and flying to some 

 neighboring resting-place, is observed by 

 the owner, captured, placed in a new hive, 

 and a new colony is immediately com- 

 menced. Before a swarm leaves the hive, 

 sure indications are given of the intended 

 movement ; the workers leave their various 

 occupations, and collect in groups, especi- 

 ally near the door of the hive, as though in 

 consultation on the important event about 

 to take place. 



As the summer advances, many queens 

 are hatched, but the workers do not allow 

 them instant liberty, as severe battles 

 would take place between them and the 

 reigning queen, in which one would be 

 killed ; the workers, therefore, make a 

 small hole in the ceiling of the royal cell. 



