SOCIAL ECONOMY. 73 



ral way. He further states that it is highly improbable that the bees 

 can develop a queen from worker larvae which had begun to be fed 

 bee-bread. The large queen cell extending out from the comb, fre- 

 quently hanging down not unlike a peanut in shape, is easily recog- 

 nized. Queen cells are illustrated in Mr. Duff's article, further on. 



A few days after maturity the virgin queen leaves the hive on her 

 marriage flight. She is met high in the air by a drone and fertiliza- 

 tion takes place. She returns to her hive and there remains with the 

 colony. The act of pairing takes place but once in the lifetime of a 

 queen. 



About two days after impregnation the queen begins laying. If a 

 very fertile queen, she will deposit from two to three thousand eggs 

 daily. While the worker exhausts itself and dies in a few weeks, or 

 months at the most, the queen is of greatest service to her colony for 

 two years, and while she will live longer it is not advisable to retain 

 her beyond that time. 



THE DRONE is developed from the unfertilized eggs placed in cells 

 somewhat larger than worker cells. They develop in about twenty- 

 four days, remaining three in the egg, six in the larval, fifteen in the 

 pupal stage. These are reared in larger numbers during the swarm- 

 ing season. This is nature's provision for the marriage flight of the 

 queen. Were the drones few in number, it would be very probable 

 that many queens would fail to meet a mate in the air. As it is, many 

 drones are in mid-air searching for mates and the fertilization of the 

 queen is assured. 



The fact that the drones are reared from unfertilized eggs, the un- 

 mixed blood of the queen, and that workers are short-lived, make the 

 introduction of a queen into the hive a matter of much importance. 

 For it will be readily seen that with the introduction of a new queen, 

 new drones of her exact strain soon appear. If the queen has been 

 tested, and found to be purely mated, then the queens reared from 

 the eggs will be pure, and these will now mate with pure-bred drones 

 and their progeny will be a pure strain. The workers of the queen 

 introduced will be pure bred and will shortly replace the native work- 

 ers, who will have lived out their existence. 



This refers to a single colony. It must be noted in this connec- 

 tion, however, that in an apiary one colony of an inferior strain may 

 contaminate many other colonies in a single season by sending forth 

 drones to breed with the pure queens of the other hives in the apiary. 



THE WORKER. This is the bee familiar to all of us ; the one re- 

 spected for its business air, as well as its powers for defense. The 

 writer has realized the industry and activity of this marvelous little 



