2 THE BOOK OF NATURE STUDY 



their habits, and form social communities consisting of fertile 

 females, sterile females, and males. 



The chief external differences between the workers on the 

 one hand, and the " queens " and drones on the other, are as 

 follows. The drone is much larger and more heavily built, his 

 eyes occupy the entire side of the head, his antennae possess 

 thirteen joints, the hairs on the thorax are short and dense, 

 the abdomen is blunt posteriorly, the outer surface of the posterior 

 tibiae is rather convex and covered with very short hairs. The 

 queen more closely resembles the worker, but the abdomen is 

 more elongate. She has no pollen-brush on the first tarsal joint 

 of the hind-legs, nor pollen-baskets on their tibiae ; in fact, the 

 hair on the legs is so sparse that the colour of the chitinous exo- 

 skeleton is plainly visible and gives the legs a reddish-brown 

 tinge. 



The body of all bees is built upon the same general plan as 

 that of wasps already described. There is, however, one con- 

 stant point of difference, in that the hairs which cover the body, 

 or at least the thorax, of bees are branched, whereas those of 

 wasps are always simple. These plumose hairs doubtless serve 

 the better to entangle and hold pollen grains, and in many 

 instances they are arranged in dense patches on which the gathered 

 pollen is conveyed home to the nest. 



The honey-bee exhibits the highest degree of perfection both 

 in bodily structure and in social economy, and to that species 

 alone attention will now be confined. Inasmuch as the structural 

 modifications are all directly concerned with the habits of these 

 insects it will be convenient first to describe the latter. 



A hive of bees contains one fertile female (the " queen "), 

 several thousand sterile females (the " workers "), and, at any rate 

 during summer, a much smaller number (300 to 400) of males 

 (" drones "). The duty of the " queen " is solely to lay eggs ; 

 of the drones, to mate with and impregnate young " queens " 

 that may be reared in this or in other hives ; of the workers, 

 to construct the combs of cells, tend and feed the " queen " 

 and her larval offspring on the collected produce of flowers, 

 lay up stores of honey for winter consumption, cleanse and 

 ventilate the hive, and defend it against marauding intruders. 



