THE BEE FAMILY 



she can move with astonishing rapidity, espe- 

 cially when locked in a death 

 struggle with a rival. >She is 

 constantly attended by a ret- 

 inue of young bees who feed 

 her from time to time, for a 

 queen will in twenty-four 

 hours lay more than her own 

 weight in eggs, and to do 

 this must be abundantly fed, 

 a function carried on by her 

 attendants. The reverence 

 the workers have for her, 

 if such it can be called, is 

 due to their knowledge 

 that without her presence 

 in the hive the colony 

 must eventually perish, as 

 there will be no brood 

 to develop into workers 

 to take the place of the 

 bees that are constantly dying off from old 



age. 



45 



Worker. 



