The Queen. 95 
Like the workers, and unlike the drones, she 
has a sting, but she very seldom uses it. In 
fact, you can handle her with as little fear of 
being stung as you can handle a drone. 
The queen’s sting is very, very precious, 
and she will not run the risk of losing 
it by stinging you. 
There is only one queen in a hive, and 
she very seldom flies abroad. There is 
too much to be done at home, for we 
must not forget that she is really the mother 
of the whole colony. The workers are 
her daughters, and the drones her sons. 
We call her a queen, but she is queen only 
in the sense that every true mother is a 
queen in her home. 
If the people who named her long ago had 
known as much about bees as we know to- 
day, they doubtless would have called her 
the mother-bee instead of the queen-bee. 
The chief occupation of the queen-bee 
is to lay eggs. She lays the eggs for the 
whole colony. 
