INSECTS PRODUCING WAX, KESIN, HONEY, MANNA. 75 



Until very recently,* nearly the whole of the 

 wax employed in Europe, and most of that con- 

 sumed in America, was the produce of the hive bee. 



A swarm of bees is composed of one female 

 (generally known as the queen-bee), from 600 to 

 1200 males, and from 15,000 to 30,000 working bees, 

 which have no sex. Aristotle used to call the chief 

 of the hive the king-bee. The working-bee would 

 have become a female had it attained its perfect 

 development a fact discovered by Mdlle. Jurine, a 

 lady who first dissected the working-bee ; but whilst 

 in the larvas state, being fed upon a small allowance 

 of food, and bred in small cells, its growth is 

 impeded, its ovaries avort, and it comes forth 

 definitely as a working-bee. 



The female (the queen) only comes out of the 

 hive or nest upon two occasions : the first at the 

 period of coupling, when she soars in the air with 

 a host of males, one of which is finally chosen as 

 her mate. This one dies almost immediately after- 

 wards, and the female returns to the hive. The 

 queen-bee has thus become fertile for one year 

 often for her whole life. As soon as the males 

 return to the hive they are unmercifully put to 

 death by the working-bees. The male-bees (drones) 

 have no sting. This takes place about August. 



* At present there is a considerable importation of vegetable 



