316 INSECTS AND OTHER SMALL ANIMALS 



the mother of the colony; thousands of worker bees, 

 which are undeveloped females that lay no eggs, but 

 gather the stores of honey and care for the young; 

 and, during a part of the year, males, which are called 

 drones, to the number of a few hundred. These three 

 classes may be easily recognized in the colony. The 

 queen bee has a longer and more slender body than the 

 drones or the workers. The drones are larger than 

 the workers. Drones are stingless. The queen and 

 the workers have stings, but the queen uses hers only 

 on other young queens, so that the worker bee's sting 

 is the only one to be feared. 



The combs are made of hexagonal cells of somewhat 

 irregular size and shape. The comb includes cells 

 for the development of brood and young bees and for 

 the storage of honey. The cells used in rearing worker 

 bees are about one fifth inch across, and those used for 

 rearing drones and for storing honey are about one 

 fourth inch across. Artificial foundations for combs, 

 made from beeswax, are provided by bee keepers so 

 that the location and -size of the combs may be under 

 his control. 



A hive of bees ready for work in the spring has its 

 thousands of workers bringing in early pollen and honey. 

 The queen begins to lay eggs in the worker cells. These 

 in time develop into white larvae, which, growing, fill 

 the cells. The cells are then capped over. In twenty- 

 one days after the egg is laid, the worker bee emerges 

 from the cell. It is usually two weeks later before she 

 does any honey gathering. As the colony increases 

 and honey is stored, the queen begins to lay eggs in the 

 larger cells. These develop into males. After a time 

 the workers begin to build queen cells over certain fe- 



