THE INHABITANTS OF THE HIVE. 
CHAPTER VII. 
Having purchased his bees and having his hives located, the begin- 
ner may very naturally inquire about the wonderful inhabitants of the 
hive and what they do. 
There are three distinctly different kinds of individuals in each colony of 
bees: namely, the queen, which is the only perfectly developed female; the 
drones, which are the males; and the worker bees, which are imperfect 
females. There are four like stages in the development of all three, namely: 
eye, larva (or grub), pupa (or chrysalis) and adult bees. 
The Queen. 
The one queen bee to be found in every colony is the mother of the 
entire colony. Her sole duty is to lay the eggs whereby the colony is con- 
tinuously populated. She is in no sense the “boss or governor” of the bee 
family, although she is the most 
important member of the hive, 
and the various colony activities 
are greatly influenced by the 
presence and condition of the 
queen. Her abdomen is larger 
around than that of the worker 
4 iy : bee but not so great in cireum- 
peer Wears: Gonos ference as that of the drone, and 
tapers to a greater length than 
The inhabitants of the hive are the one queen, that of the drone or worker. The 
the somewhat too numerous drones, and the ‘ G 
many workers. The pictures above are nearly entire body of the queen 18 con- 
natural size. siderably longer than that of 
drone or worker. The wings of 
the queen in proportion to her size are much shorter and not so well devel- 
oped as those of the worker or drone. She possesses a sting, which is curved, 
and which she very rarely uses except against a rival queen. The queen is 
developed from an egg which does not in any way differ from the egg from 
which the worker bee is produced. The worker bees themselves determine 
whether an ordinary egg shall develop a queen or worker. 
Worker bees instinctively require a good queen. If the queen fails in 
fertility, is injured, lost or killed, they immediately prepare to rear an- 
other if there are any eggs or young larvae in the hive from which a queen 
can be reared. 
When, because of a defective or missing queen or to provide a queen 
for a swarm soon to issue, the bees find themselves in need of a new queen, 
they proceed in the following manner: First, they build queen-cells, general- 
ly at the edge of » comb or in a depression in a comb, which cells are larger 
36 
