234 AN INTRODUCTION TO ZOOLOGY 



The Drone. The drone (Fig. 128) is the male bee; he lives 

 in idleness upon the food gathered by the workers. His function, 

 however, is an important one; namely, to mate with the queen. 

 How this is accomplished will be described later. The body of 

 the drone is heavy and broad, and the hind legs possess no pollen 

 basket. His eyes are considerably larger than those of either the 

 queen or worker. 



The Worker. The worker (Fig. 128) is a sexually undeveloped 

 female. Under normal conditions it lays no eggs, but is kept 



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a ma 



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Worker Queen Drone 



FIG. 128. Honeybee, Apis mcllijica. (From Shipley and MacBride.) 



busy gathering honey, pollen, and propolis, or " bee-glue," carry- 

 ing water, secreting wax, building comb, preparing food, nursing 

 the young, and cleaning and defending the hive. The workers 

 are smaller than either queen or drone; they are the bees usually 

 seen hovering about flowers. The anatomical description that 

 follows concerns the worker unless otherwise stated. 



Anatomy and Physiology. EXOSKELETON. The body of the 

 bee is completely covered with a skin or cuticle, consisting of a 

 very thin layer of chitin which is secreted by the hypodermal cells 

 lying just beneath it. This chitin protects the insect from injury 

 and gives the body strength. During the young stages the exo- 

 skeleton of inelastic chitin is cast off at intervals, allowing the 

 body to expand. 



REGIONS OF THE BODY. Three distinct regions may be recog- 

 nized in the body of the bee the head, thorax, and abdomen. 

 Each division consists of a definite number of segments more or 

 less intimately fused together. 



