138 Function of the Workers. 



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 number of workers. With- 

 out 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 

 populoiis communities. 



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

 labor of the hives. They secrete the wax, which as 

 already stated forms in small scales (Fig. 49, w) 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 German observer, so long a 

 traveler in South America, the bees of the genus Meli- 

 pona secrete the wax on the back. 



The young bees build the comb, ventilate the hive, feed 

 the larvse, queen and drones, and cap the cells. The older 

 bees — for, as readily seen in Italianizing, the young bees 

 do not go forth for the first 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 replac- 

 ing worthless queens, destroy inchoate queens, drones, or 

 even workers, if circumstances demand it, and lead forth a 

 portion of the bees when the conditions impel them to 

 swarm. 



When there are no young bees, the old 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, at less than six days of age, even though there be 

 no old bees to do this necessary part of bee-duties. An 

 indirect function of all the bees is to supply animal heat, as 

 the very life of the bees requires that the temperature inside 

 the hive be maintained at a rate considerably above freez- 

 ing. In the chemical processes attendant upon nutrition, 

 much heat is generated, which, as first shown by Newport, 

 may be considerably augmented at the pleasure of the bees, 

 by forced respiration. The bees, by a rapid vibration of 



