27 



The Workers, 



The worker-bees are undeveloped females. They are hatched from a fertilised egg 

 just like a queen, but at the end of the third day of the larval stage they are put upon 

 a less nutritious diet which retards the development of the sex organs, hence they are 

 unfit to become mothers. Their business is to carry in nectar, pollen and water, 

 incubate the eggs, feed the larvaa, do the scavenger-work of the community, ventilate 

 the apartment ; in fact, do anything useful that happens to be necessary at the time. 

 In the period of flight they live about six weeks, their short career being due to their 

 intense industry, but those hatched in September and October generally last until 

 April, when their successors appear on the scene. Broadly speaking, the main efibrt of 

 the community is to have as many producers as possible during the honey-flow, and as 

 few consumers as will keep the community going during the period of dearth. 



The Drones, 



The drones are the male members of the colon3\ They are called into existence in 

 late spring in preparation for the mating season, and are mercilessly exterminated at 

 the end of the honey-flow. From their structure they are unfit to gather nectar or 

 pollen from blossoms, so the bee-keeper considers them as merely consumers, and rather 

 costly ones at that ; therefore, he limits their number as closely as possible to the 

 actual needs of his apiary. By the use of wax foundation in the brood-frames he 

 prevents the building of drone-cells ; should the bees outwit him, he cuts the drone- 

 comb out of the frames. 



The mating of a queen with a drone occurs usually only once, when she is but a few 

 days old, the event taking place in the air. When she makes her marriage flight, she 

 flies swiftly away from the hive pursued by thousands of drones, the swiftest of them 

 being the winner of the race ; but he pays for his success with his life, for she deprives 

 him of the sex organs, rupturing his abdomen so completely that he expires almost 

 immediately. As the result of the intercourse, she is able to fertilise the hundreds of 

 thousands of eggs she may lay in the course of her life, which may endure from a few 

 weeks to several years. 



Worker-bees are produced fron) eggs that have been fertilised, but drones are 

 raised from eggs that have not been impregnated. These, therefore, have no father ; 

 consequently, any queen that has failed to mate, and this is not very unusual, will be 

 the mother of drones only. Such an one is known as a drone-laying queen. 



Development Table, 



The following table shows the duration in days of the various stages of develop- 

 ment of queen, worker, and drone : — 



Egg. Larva. Pupa. Total Time. 



Queen 3 5^ 7 151 



Worker 3 5 13 21 



Drone 3 6 15 24 



From the start the novice will know the workers, as in suitable weather they are 

 continually moving in and out of the hive. Drones appear about the 1st of May. 

 They are bigger than the workers, fly generally in the heat of the day, making a loud 

 hum, from which their name is derived. The queen never leaves the hive excepting to 

 mate or with a swarm ; therefore, to be seen she must be looked for on the frames. 

 She is easily found in the spring months when the colony is weak in numbers, but 

 rather difficult to find in the height of the summer. Once seen she will be readily 

 recognised, as her abdomen is very much longer than that of the bees that surround her. 

 Also, she moves very slowly, especially when she is laying freely, as she is then heavy 

 with eggs. There is but one queen to a hive. 



