TYPICAL INSECTS 207 



and more pointed than the others. Workers are incom- 

 pletely developed females and are unproductive. 



The workers do all the work of the hive except laying the 

 eggs. They make the honey, gather the pollen, build the 

 honey-comb, nurse the young, etc. The drones lead a life of 

 idleness, and their only function in the colony is to- fertilize 

 the queen for the egg laying. There is generally only one 

 queen to a hive, several hundred drones, and 10,000 to 

 40,000 workers. 



Bees are social insects, with a wonderfully intelligent com- 

 munity life. There is among them a division of labor, a care- 

 ful nursing of the young, a remarkable skill in the building of 

 the comb, and a regulation of the colony life that amounts to 

 an excellent organization. 



The active life of the hive is resumed in the warm days of 

 spring, when the flowers again offer their fragrance, pollen, and 

 nectar. Then the queen and such workers as have withstood 

 the hardships of the winter bestir themselves. The workers 

 clean the hive, and gather nectar and pollen. The queen 

 lays eggs to increase the population of the hive. She may lay 

 several thousand per day. The number of eggs, however, 

 varies with the food supply, being smaller in seasons of 

 scarcity of food. The eggs are placed by the queen in special 

 brood cells, which are generally in the central part of the hive. 

 Here the young are hatched into helpless little larvae, which 

 are fed and cared for by the workers, till they are ready to 

 turn into pupae. Then the workers wall them up in the cells, 

 and the pupae remain dormant for a period, developing into 

 the winged form. Most of them turn into workers, a few into 

 drones, and still fewer into queens. The larvae in the queen 

 cells are given especially rich food. 



