274 THE HONEY BEE. 



and the drones sally forth together, grapple each other in the 

 air, hug and scuffle for a minute, during which the poisonous 

 dagger of the workers is plunged into the side of the drones, 

 who bow down their heads, gather their legs together, and 

 gracefully drawing their wings as a gauzy mantle around 

 them, hide their face from observation, and so die. 



The Workers are the smallest bees in the hive, and by far 

 the most numerous ; they have a longer lower lip for sucking- 

 honey than either of the others ; their thighs are furnished 

 with a brush for the reception of the farina of flowers ; and 

 their sting is straight. The workers do the entire work of the 

 community; they build the cells, guard the hive and the queen, 

 collect and store the honey, elaborate wax, feed the young, and 

 kill the drones. The respective number of individuals in a 

 full hive are thus : 1 queen, ,^,000 drones, 20,000 workers. 



The queen lays her eggs one in the bottom of each cell ; 

 the egg is long, slightly curved, and of a bluish colour ; when 

 laid it is covered with a glutinous matter, which enables it to 

 adhere to the bottom of the cell. For eleven months the queen 

 lays only workers' eggs ; after that those which produce drones. 

 As soon as this change has taken place the workers begin to 

 construct royal cells, in which, without discontinuing laying 

 the drones' eggs, she deposits now and then, about once in 

 three days, an egg which is destined to produce a queen. The 

 workers' eggs hatch in a few days, and become little white 

 maggots, which immediately open their mouths to be fed : this 

 the workers attend to with the utmost assiduity. In six days 

 the maggot fills up its cell ; it is then roofed in by the workers, 

 spins a silken cocoon, and becomes a chrysalis, and on the 

 twenty-first day it comes forth a perfect bee. The drones 

 emerge on the twenty-fifth day, and the queens on the six- 

 teenth. 



As we have already stated, the queen for nearly a year lays 

 no eggs that are destined to produce queens ; it therefore 

 follows, that if, during that period, any evil befall her, the hive 

 is left without a queen : sometimes she dies ; sometimes she 

 wanders too near the mouth of the hive, falls out, and a bird 

 devours her ; sometimes she is taken away by the experimenting 

 apiarian for the express purpose of watching the result. For 

 twelve hours little notice is taken of the loss ; it appears not to 

 be known, and the workers labour as usual. After that period 



