collect and bring to the colony nectar, pollen, water and propolis 
or “bee glue.” 
Workers are furnished with eight glands, called “wax pockets,” 
on the underside of the abdomen arranged four on each side. These 
secrete wax which is removed from them by the bee herself. At the 
time of removal these wax flakes are about the diameter of the head 
of a pin, tend to a circular form and are of milky whiteness in color. 
These the workers fashion into comb by a kneading process with 
the mandibles. 
The adults under fourteen days old are the ones which secrete 
wax most readily. Older adults do little or nothing in this line, as the 
organs which produce wax fail to function readily. 
The number of workers in a colony may vary greatly and may 
be a few hundred or many thousands. The lifetime of a worker bee 
under active working conditions is about six weeks, but one hatched 
late in the season may live until the following spring, and is old or 
young as she has worked much or little. The worker bee is furnished 
with a sting which is straight and barbed. This she freely uses in 
defence of the colony. 
The shaft of a worker’s sting is composed of three parts, the 
two-barbed parts of which are held together by a third semi-sheath 
along which the barbs alternately glide as they are driven into the 
flesh by the controlling muscles. Connected with this is the poison 
sack about the size of a cabbage seed, from which the poison is forced 
into the wound through a canal formed by the union of the two 
barbs and the sheath. As the sting is driven into the flesh the poison 
is injected into the wound until the sting is driven in its entire length 
and the poison sack entirely emptied. Because of the barbs the 
sting cannot easily be withdrawn when inserted in the flesh. It is 
seldom removed by the bee, but by her efforts she separates herself 
from the animal attacked by forcibly separating the sting from her 
body, leaving attached to the sting the poison sack, the muscles which 
control them and a part of the intestine. This constitutes a rather 
serious injury to the bee and results in her death, although a bee so 
injured has been known to live two or three days. 
Abnormal Workers 
When a colony becomes queenless and has no worker brood young 
enough to develop into a queen, often a worker or workers will 
produce eggs. Since the worker cannot mate with the drone these eggs 
produce drones only, being unfertilized. These eggs are not placed 
in the normal position in the bottom of the cell but are found largely 
on the side walls. Another indication of laying workers is drone 
brood in worker cells characterized by the very convex capping on 
13 
