78 



THE AMERICA N APIC UL TUBIS T. 



The queen, rightfully so called 

 b}^ reason of her majestic form, her 

 authority and superior excellences, 

 is the most important, the chief and 

 leader in a bee republic. Without 

 her, the whole colony scatters and 

 soon dwindles away. She rules 

 and is the soul of all the work done 

 in the hive. She is the mother-bee 

 and is vastly more productive than 

 one would believe, as like the in- 

 sects in general which are short- 

 lived, they increase rapidly. In 

 three months she produces more 

 than 30,000 young bees. A single 

 young swarm, if it is a fairly strong 

 one, consists of 15,000 to 25,000 

 bees, and still the hive at tlie close 

 of the summer is as full of bees as 

 in the beginning of spring, notwith- 

 standing the tenth part at least 

 perish through the summer either 

 at the gathering in the fields, are 

 caught by birds, or perish ffoni 

 wind or weather. Yes, a single 

 strong colony, which has not been 

 permitted to swarm, but increased 

 in strength instead, will contain 

 40,000 to 50,000 bees. 



Besides her prolificness, the 

 queen also commands admiration 

 on account of her beauty and other 

 qualities, and indeed is a beautiful 

 creature among all insects. Her 

 smell is balm-like. She is much 

 laroer and prettier than the worker- 

 bees. Her head is rounder and her 

 muzzle shorter than that of the 

 workers, and her mandibles are 

 indented while those of the com- 

 mon bees lie Hat ; so that you can 

 see well the queen is not born to 

 work, as she is unfitted, by the 

 construction of her mandibles, for 



drawing out or working the wax. 

 They are, on the contrary, prepared 

 and arranged to hurt the superflu- 

 ous queens and Jo kill them after 

 the constitution of her wise econ- 

 omy. Her eyes consist as those 

 of the other bees, of many thou- 

 sand little mirrors which are cut 

 square, of a purple color and cov- 

 ered with hair. We see in this 

 also the admirable wisdom of God, 

 who has formed the eyes of these 

 insects in such a waj^ that the rays 

 of light can fall into them from all 

 sides. The bees can therefore see 

 distinctly in the darkness of the 

 hive and build as well at night as 

 in the daytime, and also when the 

 workers are surrounded by a whole 

 cluster. 



The wings of the queen are ex- 

 actly as long as those of the worker 

 bees, although they seem to be 

 short in proportion to the much 

 longer body, a proof that they by 

 nature are adapted neither for work, 

 nor much flying out, that being the 

 common business of the workers. 

 Their hind legs do not possess the 

 pollen-baskets which characterize 

 the working bees, and in which 

 they hang their pollen-balls, and 

 are not so thickly clothed with 

 hairs. As to her color, the upper 

 parts are a little more light brown 

 than those of the other bees. Her 

 abdomen is almost twice as long 

 as the common bees, also more 

 pointed at the end than the others, 

 and strikingly resembles polished 

 black marble. While the two large 

 hind feet of the common bees are 

 black, her feet are pretty golden 

 yellow ; and the Avhole under part 



