HYMENOPTERA — THE HONEYBEE 



35 



Figure 34. — 1 href. 



Queen Cells. 



Natural size. 



The honeybee and the bumble bee are 



the most important of the bees. The 



honeybee is valuable for its honey and 



wax, and as a distributor of the pollen 



which is necessary for the growth of 



new plants. The bumble bee is valuable 



mainly as a distributor of pollen. 



Honeybees afford a splendid example 



of community life among insects. In 



the wild state they live in trees and 



caves. All wild honeybees in this 



country have escaped from hives or 



apiaries (bee farms). 



In a honeybee colony there are three classes of bees, — 



the perfect females or queens, 

 the males or drones, and the 

 imperfect females, or workers. 

 There are generally one queen, 

 a few hundred drones, and twen- 

 ty to fifty thousand workers. 



The queen alone can lay 

 eggs. She can lay an unfer- 

 tilized egg which hatches into 

 a drone, or she can lay an egg 

 which is fertilized. This fer- 

 tilized egg hatches into a queen 

 or a worker, according to the 

 food and the size of the cell 

 which are provided by the 

 workers. Thus the decision 

 as to whether the young bee 

 shall be a queen or a worker 



rests with the workers themselves. They also have t lie 



power to supersede the queen, or to raise a new queen 



Figure 35. — a, Honey Bee 

 Egg; b, Young Larva; c, Old 

 Larva ; d, Pupa. 



Three times natural size. 



