280 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



and longer even than the drone, and different hi her propor- 

 tions from either. The rings of the abdomen are less fully 

 developed, or less visible. She has a more delicate structure 

 than the drone, is more wasp-like in her appearance, with an 

 abdomen more nicely tapered, or pointed at its extremity. She 

 is of a darker color upon the back, especially upon the back 

 part of the abdomen, than either the worker or drone. Upon 

 the lower side of the abdomen she presents a yellowisli, or semi- 

 orange appearance. Her wings, when compared with those of 

 the worker or drone, are wider, stouter, and shorter, in propor- 

 tion to the length of her body. She is seldom on the wing, and 

 is seldom seen except at the time of swarming, and when she 

 comes forth in the open air to be impregnated by the males. 

 She lays all the eggs from which the increase of the colony pro- 

 ceeds. The number of eggs which she deposits in the cells 

 during a single season is truly astonishing, amounting to hun- 

 dreds and even thousands in a single day, as may be witnessed 

 by those who use observatory hives. 



Queen. Drone. Worker. 



The Drone. — The drone, like the queen and worker, is appro- 

 priately named. He is larger, stouter and more bulky than the 

 worker, and not so long as the queen. The drones are the only 

 males in the hive. They are hatched from April to July, and 

 usually number from three to four hundred in a single colony. 

 They are literally "gentlemen of leisure." They add nothing 

 to the stores of the family, perform no labor, and do not even 

 gather their own food, but live on the labors of others. They 

 seem designed merely for propagation. Their days are very 

 limited. When the work of impregnating the queen is per- 

 formed for the following season, they are destroyed by the 

 workers, who seem intent on carrying out the principle that he 

 that will not work shall not eat. This general slaughter of 

 drones usually takes place during the month of August, some- 



