MANUAL OF THE APIABY. 99 



will essay to go 'with the crowd. These young bees,- like the 

 young drones and queens, are much lighter for the first few 

 days. 



The worker-bees never attain a groat age. Those reared in 

 autumn may live for eight or nine months, and if in queenless 

 stocks, where little labor is performed, even longer ; while 

 those reared in spring will wear out in three, and when most 

 busy, will often die in from thirty to forty-five days. None 

 of these bees survive the year through, so there is a limit to 

 the number which may exist in a colony. As a good queen 

 will lay, when in her best estate, three thousand eggs daily, 

 and as the workers live from one to three months, it might 

 seem that forty thousand was too small a figure for the num- 

 ber of workers. Without doubt a greater number is possible. 

 That it is rare is not surprising, when we remember the 

 numerous accidents and vicissitudes that must ever attend 

 the individuals of these populous communities. 



The function of the worker-bees is to do all the manual 

 labor of the hives. They secrete the wax, which forms in 

 small pellets (Fig. 27, a, a) under the over-lapping rings under 

 the abdomen. I have found these wax-scales on both old and 

 young. According to Fritz Miiller, the admirable Grerman 

 observer, so long a traveler in South America, the bees of the 

 genus melipona secrete the wax on the back. 



The young bees build the comb; ventilate the hive, 

 feed the larvae and cap the cells. The older bees — for, as 

 readily seen in Italianizing, the young bees do not go forth 

 for the first one or two weeks^-gather the honey, collect the 

 pollen, or bee-bread, as it is generally called, bring in the 

 propolis or bee glue, which is used to close openings, and as a 

 cement, supply the hive with water (?), defend the hive from all 

 improper intrusion, destroy drones when their day of grace is 

 past, kill and arrange for replacing worthless queens, destroy 

 inchoate queens, drones, or even workers, if circumstances 

 demand it, aind lead' forth a portion of the bees when the con- 

 ditions impel them to swarm. 



When there are noyoungbeeg, theold bees will act as house- 

 keepers and nurses, which they otherwise refuse to do. The 

 young bees, on the other hand, will not go forth to glean, 

 even though there be no old bees to do this necessary part of 



