98 The Bee People. 
ripen they pass through the long tube of 
the ovipositor, which guides them to the 
right place in the comb. 
If the queen were to lose her sting, she 
would no longer be able to lay the eggs, 
and so the colony would soon die out. 
For worker-bees live only a few months 
at the best, and sometimes only a few 
weeks, so the queen, who lives four or five 
years, and sometimes even longer, has to 
keep on laying eggs in order to keep her 
large household supplied with new mem- 
bers as the old die off. 
It is no wonder, therefore, that she will 
not sting. 
The queen takes no care of the eggs, nor 
of the young bees. She leaves all that to 
her daughters, the workers. She does not 
even feed herself much of the time. 
But the workers are glad to take care 
of her. They prepare a special food for 
her, better than the food the other grown- 
up bees get, which is quite proper, as such 
