72 GENERAL ZOOLOGY 



and provisions with caterpillars. The young, when full- 

 grown, escape through a hole which they cut in the side of 

 the nest, as shown in the figure. 



The Honey-Bee. The life-history of the honey-bee (A' pis 

 mellif'ica, Fig. 45) has been quite well understood for a long 

 time. This insect offers a most interesting illustration of a 

 society all the members of which act together for the good 

 of the community. In their community specialization of work 

 has been developed to a remarkable extent. The honey-bee, 

 originally a native of the eastern hemisphere, possibly from 

 the region along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea, 

 has been domesticated from very early times for the sake of 

 its two important products, honey and wax. Escaped swarms 

 in this country have become the wild honey-bees, which nest 

 in hollow trees. In early summer a bee community in good 

 condition may contain from twenty-five to thirty-five thousand 

 workers, several hundred males, called drones, but only one 

 female, called the queen bee. The queen bee may be distin- 

 guished from the workers and drones by her larger size ; the 

 drones are stouter than the workers. 



Upon the workers devolves most of the labor in connection 

 with the life of the community. They secrete the wax and 

 fashion it into the cells of which the home is composed. , 

 They bring water to the hives. They collect nectar from 

 flowers and later regurgitate it and ripen it into honey ; they 

 bring pollen to mix with nectar to make " bee-bread," and 

 gather propolis, a gummy substance from the bud-scales of 

 certain trees, especially the poplar, for filling crevices and 

 covering foreign objects which are too. big to remove from 

 the nest. When the young are hatched the workers act as 

 nurses and housekeepers for the community, feeding the 

 young and keeping the hive free from all substance which 

 might decay. In warm weather some of them may be seen 

 at the entrance and along the passageway, keeping the air in 



