284 A BOOK OF INSECTS 



artisans and builders. Some species use clay, in addition 

 to wax and resin, when constructing their outworks. 



The notion that a queen hive-bee (Apis mellifica) 

 governs her subjects is incorrect. Owing to a peculiar 

 physical endowment she is indeed able to determine the 

 sex of her offspring; yet there is no proof that she 

 voluntarily exercises even this limited power. Certain it 

 is that the female larva develops into a queen or a worker 

 in accordance with the kind of food supplied by its nurses. 

 Moreover, in all other matters the queen is a slave of the 

 community — a mere egg-laying machine which may be 

 accelerated or retarded at will. When the affairs of the 

 hive are in the ascendant, and the need for fresh relays 

 of workers is urgent, the queen is pampered with dainty 

 rations, and led from cell to cell, in each of which she 

 leaves an egg ; but when the tide of prosperity turns, she 

 is literally starved into submission, and her fertility is 

 checked. In a word, the government of the bee-state 

 is vested in the workers ; and they themselves are impelled 

 by instincts, the sum of which has been aptly termed 

 "the spirit of the hive." 



The hive-bee has been more closely studied than any 

 other insect, the wonders of its structure and life being 

 set forth in a whole library of volumes. For our present 

 purpose a brief summary must suffice. I^et us suppose 

 that we take our first peep into a hive when the work of 

 the year is commencing. The population consists of one 

 queen and a fairly numerous body of workers which have 

 survived the winter in company, eking out their provi- 

 sions, and clustering together for warmth. When flowers 

 begin to open, many workers go forth to collect nectar 

 and pollen. Others busy themselves with the building 

 of new comb to accommodate the daily growing store of 

 food-substances, and to receive the eggs from which new 



