INSECTS. 241 



The history of a colony of bees runs somewhat as follows: In the 

 spring the queen lays the eggs in the cells which are to produce work. 

 and drones, or males. Later in the season the eggs for the queens of the 

 new- brood are deposited. When these latter have gone through their 

 metamorphoses, the ( swarming' occurs. First, scouts are sent out to 

 find a proper location, and then the old queen, accompanied by a portion 

 of the workers, sets forth to found the new colony. Their first act is to 

 thoroughly clean the new home, and then the various labors begin. In 

 the meantime the young queen takes a ' marriage flight ' with one of the 

 drones, and then returns to manage affairs at the new hive. Again and 

 again this process is repeated so long as queens continue to come forth ; 

 but when all are gone, the workers fall upon the drones and kill them all. 



If the queen of a hive should die, the workers are able to raise up a 

 new queen. The larval bees are fed upon ' bee-bread,' which is produced 



C 



3 



Fig. 228. — Queen, workers, and drone of the honey-bee; above are front views of 



the heads. 



by chewing pollen and mixing it with certain juices of the digestive tract. 

 The larvae which are destined to produce workers are fed a different 

 quality of bee-bread from those which are to become queens ; and so, if the 

 queen die, the workers select a worker-larva, enlarge its cell, and feed it 

 with the queen food, and the result is that the worker-larva develops into 

 a queen. This, however, is not so strange, when we consider that the 

 workers are in reality undeveloped females. On the other hand, hives 

 of bees exist sometimes without queens, living under what may be termed 

 a republican form of government, and it is rather interesting to note that 

 a hive which has lived for some time in this way cannot be induced to 

 accept a new queen. 



Bee-keepers have introduced many ingenious inventions to facilitate 

 the honey-storing capacities of the bees. There are patterns of hives 

 beyond number, while they aid the bees by placing in the hives sheets 

 wax pressed so as to form a foundation for the comb. They even go 



