BEES. 



CHAPTER I. 

 VARIETIES AND PECULIARITIES OP BEES. 



2. NATURAL IIISTORV OF BEES. II. THE TIIUEE GENDERS OF THE HONEY BEE. 



III. VARIETIES OF THE HONEY BEE. —IV. THE SO-CAl.l.EI) ^lEEN OR MOTHEB 



BEE. V. THE NUMBER OF EOGS LAID. VI. DRONES OR JIALE BEES. VII 



NEUTER OR WORKER BEES. VIII. VARIETIES OF HONEY. IX. WAX AND 



HOW IT IS FORMED. X. PLANTS ADAPTED TO THE PRODUCTION OF HONEY. 



I. Natural History of Bees. 



Ill all liuips, and among all nations and tril)es, however savage, the 

 honey bee has been held in high esteem. Among savages and barbarians 

 bees have always been prized for the stores of sweets they produce, and 

 among more civilized people, for the interest attached to the study of 

 their peculiarities and habits, as well as for the value of the honey as an 

 article of food or luxury. 



The honey bee belongs to the ord^r Hexapods, that is true insects : and 

 to the sub-order IJyrnenoptera. This sub-order includes wasps, ants, 

 sand-flies and ichneumon flies. The group com})rises insects havin:? ^ 

 tongue for taking liquid food, as well as strong jaws for gnawing and 

 biting. The family to which the honey bee belongs (Ap/'dm), includeg 

 all in.sects which feed their young or larvoe on pollen and honey. 



Insects of this family have broad heads ; also antennne or feelers, usu- 

 ally thirtecn-jointed in the male, and only twelve-jointed in the female; 

 the jaws (77iandibles)x(iry strong, often toothed ; the tongue (h'gidc) long ; 

 the second jaws [maxilla') one on each side of the tongue, also long ; and 

 the tongue, when not in use, generally folded back once or twice 

 under the head. The Jarv<f, .are footless, maggot-like grubs, which are 

 fed on honey and jJoUcn ; and a ])eculiarity of the honey bee is, that the 

 neuter egg may be changed during its growth, by the workers, when 

 necessary, so that the fertile or mother form (queen) is produced. 



The mother bee is impregnated but once, and lives several 3'ears laying 

 eggs, producing neuter bees or males, apparently at will, though probably 

 according to a natural law not yet fully understood. The worker bees 

 live vr*- over one vear, and the males are destroyed at the end of the first 



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