THE HYMENOPTERA 



363 



live in its nests, than are some of the other races. The Italian bee is a slightly 

 larger insect with dull yellow stripes on its abdomen; an excellent honey 

 producer, gentle in disposition; can protect itself quite well from other 

 insects, and at the present time is the most popular race in this country. 

 Other races more or less frequently met with are the Carniolan having a 

 gray abdomen, the Cyprian with a yellow abdomen and a very bad tem- 

 per, and the Caucasian with a yellow-gray abdomen. Interbreeds of the 

 black and Italian bees are very common and have more black on the 

 abdomen than the pure-bred Italians. 



/ 



FIG. 384. Honey Bee (Apis mellifera L.): a, drone; b, queen; c, worker. 



size. (Original.) 



About natural 



A honey bee colony consists of a queen or fully developed female; 

 workers which are partly developed females; and drones or males during 

 a part of the year .(Fig. 38.4). The queen lays eggs in the cells and the 

 young are cared for by the workers which also gather food for themselves 

 and the 3^oung bees, make the comb, put the nest in good condition and 

 keep it so, and in fact do all the work necessary for the colony. The 

 drones exist solely to fertilize the queens, taking no part in the work of the 

 colony, and feeding on the stores brought in. On the first tarsal segment 

 of the hind leg in the workers is the " pollen basket," a flattened or slightly 

 hollowed oval surface surrounded by a fringe of long hairs. 



An ordinary colony in good condition will consist of several thousand 

 bees, the number at any time varying and determined by the rapidity of 

 the production of young, the departure of many by swarming, and other 

 factors. Swarms containing over fifty thousand bees have been seen, 

 and the colony they left behind also contained at least a few thousand. 



A laying queen bee has a body about three quarters of an inch long: 

 the drone has a shorter but stouter abdomen, and the workers are about 

 half an inch long. 



The life of the queen may be several years. Ordinarily, workers live 

 only a month or two, but those produced in the fall live over winter and 

 far enough into the spring to care for the young produced at that time. 

 Drones live only a few months and are killed by the workers when their 

 usefulness is ended. 



The life of the honey bee has been modified in many ways by its 

 relation to man. Under natural conditions where no human interference 



