149 



TUB WOKKEB. 



hive. The workers, or neuters, are the most numerous, and 

 perform all the labor, collecting the honey, secreting the wax, 

 and building the cells. The females Fig. 46. 



and workers have stings at the end 

 of the abdomen, but the drones have 

 none. The queen lives in the inte- 

 rior of the hive, and seldom leaves 

 it except to lead forth a swarm. If 

 she be removed from the hive, the 

 whole swarm will follow her. The 

 queen is not only the governor, but also the mother of the com- 

 munity, she being the only breeder out of 20,000 or 30,000 

 bees, on which account she is loved, respected, and obeyed with 

 all the external marks of devotion which human beings could 

 give to a beloved monarch. 



The queen deposits her eggs in cells previously prepared by 

 the workers to receive them. The eggs producing workers are 

 deposited in six-sided horizontal cells ; the cells of the drones 

 are somewhat irregular ; those of the queens are larger than 

 the others, circular, and hang perpendicularly. The eggs pro- 

 ducing workers are laid first, the queen laying about two hun- 

 dred eggs daily. The eggs of the drones afterward laid are less 

 numerous than those of the workers, in the proportion of about 

 one to thirty. Eggs for queens are deposited in their proper cells, 

 Fig. 47. one in each, at intervals of one or two days. 



The eggs and larvae of the royal family do not 

 differ in appearance from those of the work- 

 ers, but the young are more carefully nurs- 

 ed, and fed with a more stimulating kind of 

 food called "royal jelly," which causes them 

 to grow so rapidly that in five days the larva 

 is prepared to spin its web, and on the six- 

 teenth day becomes a perfect queen. But 

 as only one queen can reign in the hive, 

 A KOYAL CELL. the young ones are kept close prisoners; and 

 carefully guarded against the attacks of the queen mother 



