BEE BUSINESS 47 



classes. They defend the hive against 

 invasion, and they invade other hives if 

 they get half a chance. If there is any 

 cleaning up to be done about the place 

 they are the ones who do the dirty work, 

 and if, as sometimes happens, the colony 

 loses its queen and there are no more eggs 

 to carry on the tribe, some of the workers 

 even turn their hands to this delicate task 

 and lay eggs. It must be said in all jus- 

 tice, however, that these eggs never secure 

 the colony any advantage because while 

 they hatch, they produce only drones. In 

 short, the worker is all that its name im- 

 plies — it does the work of the colony. 

 And in this connection I use the neuter 

 pronoun correctly because the worker is 

 simply an imperfect female. It is capa- 

 ble of lajdng eggs, which have never been 

 fertilized, and these eggs hatch in due 

 time and produce perfect drones — the 

 males of the colony. However, the work- 

 er never (or very seldom) lays eggs as 

 long as there is a queen in the colony. 



