208 ORGANIC EVOLUTION CONSIDERED 



honey needed, the worker-comb is almost as invari- 

 ably formed." 



A queenless colony gathers less pollen than a col- 

 ony with a queen. The pollen which has been stored 

 up in cells is not used until emergency requires. 



Workers do not generally live more than six weeks 

 during their period of greatest . activity. They can, 

 at will, convert nectar into either honey or wax. 



The queen seldom uses her sting except to destroy 

 other queens. This fact is of great importance in 

 her preservation, for the loss of her sting would re- 

 sult in her death. While the worker has seven prom- 

 inent barbs on its sting, the queen has but three very 

 short ones, and she is thus enabled to withdraw her 

 sting the more readily, thereby insuring her preserva- 

 tion. A. J. Cook says, "I have often tried to pro- 

 voke a queen's anger, but never with any evidence of 

 success." 



The queen after her impregnation never leaves the 

 hive except to lead forth a swarm. The large num- 

 ber of drones insures her speedy impregnation with 

 as little exposure to danger as possible. 



The legs of the queen have neither brushes nor bas- 

 kets for carrying pollen. She differs also in many 

 points of structure — especially in the relative size of 

 organs — from the workers. 



The drones have na stings and " no suitable pro- 

 boscis for gathering honey from flowers, no baskets 

 on their thighs for holding bee-bread," and no 

 pouches for secreting wax. 



A check in the yield of honey may cause the de- 

 struction of inchoate drones and queens. " If the 

 signs of the times presage a famine, they stay all pro- 

 ceedings looking to an increase of colonies." A. J. 

 Cook says: " The conditions which lead to the build- 

 ing of queen-cells and the peopling of the same are: 



