genebaij autumn woek 171 



or two "laying workers." Tliese curious anomalies are 

 rarely detected in the act of laying, and when once a 

 colony has a few workers producing drone eggs it is a 

 troublesome matter to get a queen introduced. How these 

 bees should happen to have ovaries developed sufficiently 

 to lay drone eggs (remember the "laying worker" 

 has no sexual relation with a male bee) is not known. 

 It has been suggested that the bees aware of their hope- 

 less state feed the royal food to some of the younger 

 bees, and this has the effect of developing the ovaries. 

 Colonies with these pests will not readily accept even a 

 queen-cell, nay, thej^ appear to cherish these "undesir- 

 able females, ' ' fondling them with their antennae, as they 

 would a royal mother. The presence of fertile workers 

 is quickly detected by the irregular manner in which 

 the eggs are laid. Several eggs are laid criss-cross in a 

 single worker-cell (not at all like those laid by a fecund 

 queen) while the cells adjacent may be vacant. 



The bees of such a colony are too old to rear a queen 

 for themselves, and it is hardly worth risking good 

 "ripe" queen-cells. In autumn the stock has small 

 chance of building up strong enough to winter, and the 

 best way to treat them is to imite the bees with another 

 stock in normal condition. "Wait until dusk, remove 

 the cover of the normal colony quietly, and loosen the 

 "laying worker" hive from its bottom board. If the 

 weather be chilly, after an interval of a few minutes lift 

 this body (still retaining its cover) and place it on top 

 of the normal colony. Treated thus, there will be no 

 disturbance or fighting. A careful bee-keeper rarely has 

 to contend with "laying workers"; it is poor management 

 to allow a colony to remain so long without a queen that 

 it is unable to rear one. 



HUNTING BBE-TEEBS. 



This is another early autumn pastime for the 



budding apiculturist. If a warm day is selected it is 



advisable to visit the water holes of the district and 



watch for bees that come to drink. Good eyesight is 



