IN THE FIELD 209 



years, and in that time she can lay about half a million of 

 eggs. 



Development of the brood. According to the cells into 

 which the eggs are placed, and according to the food given 

 the larvae, the eggs will develop into workers, drones, or 

 queens. The richest food is given to the larvae in the queen 

 cells. Eggs in the worker cells hatch when three days old ; 

 after five days, the white, grub-like larva pupates in its cell. 

 The bees cover the cell with wax and the larva adds a 

 little silk on the inside. Thirteen days later, the pupa has 

 changed into the perfect bee, which bites its way through 

 the cell cover. Queens develop from the egg into the per- 

 fect insect in fifteen and one-half days ; drones, in twenty- 

 four days. 



The drones. The queen is the only female bee in the 

 hive ; the workers are dwarfed females, and, under ordinary 

 conditions, do not lay eggs; the drones are the male bees. 

 They are larger than the workers, but have no sting. When 

 a queen is from five to nine days old, she leaves the hive to 

 meet the drones high in the air. Mating with the queen and 

 fertilizing her is the only duty of the drones. They do no work 

 in the hive nor in the field to benefit the bee state. In the fall, 

 when there are no longer any queens to be fertilized, the 

 drones are expelled from the hives or are killed by the 

 workers. 



From what we have learned, it is clear that there exists a 

 division of labor in the bee state; in which respect the beehive 

 may be compared to a community of human beings. 



The swarming of bees may be compared to the founding 

 ofneiv colonies by men. 



When the number of bees in a hive has increased so 

 much that they are crowded for room, the workers begin to 

 build drone and queen cells. As soon as one of the queen 

 cells is capped, the old queen becomes very restless, and, 



