AUSTRALASIAN BEE MANUAL 



II 



term of life may extend to three or even four breeding 

 seasons, and during that time she may lay many scores 

 of thousands of eggs ; but she is considered to be in 

 her prime in the second season, and is seldom very 

 prolific after the third. She can be easily distinguished 

 from the other bees, and be recognised even by the 

 most inexperienced from the following description :— 



Fig. 2. Fig. 3. 



THE QUEEN. THE DRONE. 



(Relative sizes, enlarged.) 



Fig. 4. 



THE WORKER. 



Her body is not so bulky as that of a drone, though 

 longer ; it is considerably more tapering than that of 

 either drone or worker ; her wings are much shorter in 

 proportion than those of the other bees ; the under part 

 of her body is of a lighter and the upper of a darker 

 colour than the worker's ; her movements are generally 

 slow and matronly, and indeed she looks every inch a 

 queen. 



The drones, or male bees, are much stouter than 

 either the queen or workers, although their bodies are 

 not so long as that of the queen. They are neither 

 furnished with a sting nor a suitable proboscis for 

 gathering honey, no baskets on their legs for carrying 

 pollen, and no pouches on their abdomens for secreting 

 wax, so that they are physically incapable of doing the 

 ordinary work of the hive. Their office is to impreg- 

 nate the young queens, but very few have the chance 

 of doing so; those that have, die immediately after- 



