208 HANDBOOK OF NATURE STUDY 



bee-keeper, the children should learn to distinguish them ; 

 if that material was not procurable, confine the description 

 to the cells of the honeycomb, which can be bought in the 

 market. That all the different cells are built by the work- 

 ers needs scarcely to be mentioned. 



But the work mentioned thus far does not complete the 

 duties of the workers. They also defend their hives against 

 robber bees, which come to steal their supplies. At a time 

 when there are but few flowers, the bees of strong colonies 

 frequently attack those of weak colonies, carry off their 

 stores, and kill thousands of the bees. 



As the different duties of worker bees are not equally diffi- 

 cult, the oldest bees perform the more difficult and dangerous 

 duties. The young bees work in the hive for about two 

 weeks ; after that time they also fly out for field work. In 

 field work the bees are exposed to winds, birds, and other 

 enemies; thousands of them rip their wings and cannot 

 return home. -So great and numerous are those dangers, 

 that the age of a honeybee is not more than about three 

 weeks during the busy season ; while wintering, bees may 

 live for eight months. 



Duties of the queen. There is only one queen in each 

 hive, and she is really the mother of the whole colony. 

 Her body, especially the abdomen, or posterior part, is 

 longer than that of a worker. She ^does not do any work 

 in the hive and never flies out to gather honey, because her 

 weak mouth-parts and weak wings unfit her for that kind 

 of work ; nor does she help to defend the hive, although she 

 has a long and powerful sting. 



Her only duty is to enable herself, by taking plenty of 

 the most substantial bee food, to lay large numbers of eggs. 

 Under specially favorable conditions, she will lay four 

 thousand eggs in twenty-four hours, and about one hundred 

 thousand in one season. A queen's life is from four to five 



