Vol. XIV 



JANUARY, 1904 



No. I 



COMB BUILDING. 



An Analysis of Cause and Effect in Relation to the 

 Construction of Drone and Worker Cells. 



By W. W. McXeal. 



NATURE has decreed that every 

 colony of bees shall have a con- 

 stituency of (1) a queen; (2) 

 worker-bees; (3) drone bees. She has 

 ordained each of a kind to a particular 

 mission in life: the (lueen to populate 

 the hive; the worker to gattJer honey 

 and build the honey-comb; and the 

 drone to beautify the young queen. To 

 insure this order of insect life it is 

 necessary for the bees to build comb 

 suitable for all propagating purposes. 

 That there are certain agencies whii Ji 

 preclude the building of Avorker-comb 

 and intensify intei'est in the produc- 

 tion of drone comb, is beyond conjec- 

 ture. A knowledge of those influences 

 and the ability to avoid tlieiu, [jrac- 

 ticaJly makes a master of bees. 



The building of v,'Oi"-ier-coinb signi- 

 fies contentment, but drone-comb im- 

 plies that there is a feeling of inse- 

 curit.v or one of dissatisfaction; and, 

 therefore, it often stands a monuiuent 

 to iJu' caprices of a romantic <iueen. 

 The mere presence of the oue<?n on 

 t-ombs under jtrocess of construction 

 docs not necessarily mean chat siie is 

 in full symjiathy with home interests. 

 The coachings of instinct mak'^ tlie 

 workers alert in this matter, and as 

 soon as they anticipate the probable 

 loss of their (jueen, preparations for 

 the rearing of drones are at once be- 

 gun. 



A queenless colony will invariably 

 build drone comb and nothing short 



of a good laying queen would ever 

 make it think of building worker- 

 comb. 



The same teachings are to be met 

 with in a nucleus where the queen 

 can easily keep pace with the comb- 

 builders. Just as long as there is 

 contentment within the hive, the little 

 colony will build worker-comb. But 

 when the leaven of discontent begins 

 to work, and they contemplate swarm- 

 ing, the wax-workers switch off onto 

 drone comb, with the queen following 

 in close pursuit. 



It is a well-known fact that black 

 bees build more worker-comb, as a 

 rule, than Italians, because they are 

 less given to swarming. 



AVe have heard it said that a swarm 

 builds drone comb for store purposes, 

 the reason assigned being that it is 

 more economical of time and wax to 

 do so. But bees do not build comb 

 simply for store puri)oses; that is a 

 secondary matter with them. Di'one 

 comb will not be used in the fall of 

 the year for honey when there is 

 worker-comb at hand; thus shibwing 

 they do not have a preference for it at 

 any time. If the production of drone- 

 comb were true economy, why don't 

 the bees of a swarm practice it right 

 from the start? At no subsequent 

 time is the demand for store-comb so 

 urgent, nor could that doctrine of 

 economics l>e more clearly demonstrat- 

 ed. But. do the bees build drone-comb 

 at that time? No. It is only when 

 the hive has been partly filled with 

 worker-comb that local conditions 

 arise to divert, or, the desire to swarm 

 again, causing a ferment among them, 

 do they build drone-comb. 



