BEE BUSINESS 53 



her sting except against a rival queen, 

 keeping the royal weapon for a royal foe. 

 The drones are as harmless as house- 

 flies but they often buzz about one's head 

 in a way that almost makes a person for- 

 get that they are pure bluff. 



The life-history of these different indi- 

 viduals is not only interesting but it is a 

 very important part of any beekeeper's 

 education. 



The egg of the worker is a tiny white, 

 elongated object about the size of the 

 shank of the small letter '*i" in the print 

 on this page and about the shape and size 

 in cross section of the dot over the "i." 

 These eggs are deposited in the worker 

 cells in the brood frame and almost imme- 

 diately are fed. Can you imagine any one 

 feeding an egg — and yet that is exactly 

 what happens in the case of the bee. The 

 food is a milky substance provided from 

 the mouths of the adult bees and in this 

 food the tiny egg is immersed for three 

 days. At the end of that period it hatches 



