Natural History 



is the queen, not by reason of her wits, for her daughters far 

 surpass her in brains and activity, but because she is the mother 

 bee, who alone can increase or restore the population. 



The Queen 



One of the most remarkable facts about hive bees is the 

 apparently psychical dependence of the community on the pres- 

 ence of the queen. If she is removed, the bad news spreads 

 quickly through the hive and there is a strange disorganisation. 

 When the bee-keeper replaces her, the good news soon circulates, 

 and there is harmony once more. According to some authorities, 

 the queen has a peculiar odour which is reassuring to the workers. 

 There is no doubt that smell counts for much among bees. 



The queen bee is concerned only with egg-laying; the life 

 of the hive is sustained by the worker bees, which are active, in- 

 telligent, but sterile females, with their reproductive systems in 

 a state of arrested development. Thirdly, there is the drone 

 section of the community, the males, who take no part in the 

 work, and forage only for themselves, and then not sufficiently 

 to satisfy their greed for honey. It has been said that they com- 

 port themselves in the hive as did Penelope's suitors in the house 

 of Ulysses: "Indelicate and wasteful, sleek and corpulent, fully 

 content with their idle existence as honorary lovers, they feast 

 and carouse, throng the alleys, obstruct the passages, and hinder 

 the work." But this is not quite accurate. Drones spend much 

 of their time flying about very energetically in the vicinity of 

 the hive. They are on the look-out for an emerging queen, and 

 they are usually disappointed. 



The Bees' Diligence 



The stronger workers have to provide food for the whole 

 colony. Their diligence is immense; they toil from morning to 

 night with ceaseless energy, gathering in the precious store of 

 honey and pollen, and it is said that in summer-time the average 



