86 THE LORE OF THE HONEY-BEE 
but to bring to maturity the young spring-broods. 
Not a bee among them will ever again go honey- 
gathering. Except for the long-lived queen- 
mother, and the old hive and its furniture, each 
colony with every year becomes a totally new 
thing. 
Hibernation, in the true sense of the word, has 
no part in bee-life. The queen-wasp and count- 
less other creatures hibernate, passing the cold 
months in a torpor of sleep until the enduring 
warmth of another year lures them back to active 
existence. But the honey-bees have a better way : 
they gather together in a dense, all but motion- 
less cluster in the heart of the hive, with their 
precious queen in their midst and their food-stores 
above them. At this time honey is their only 
necessary food, and very little of this suffices to 
keep up the needful temperature of the colony. 
When they are out and about at their work, or 
busy within the hive, the nitrogenous pollen must 
be added to their daily ration of nectar to build up 
wasted tissues ; but now honey, the nectar con- 
centrated, the heat-producer, is all they want. 
The bees of the cluster nearest to the combs 
broach the full cells beneath them, and the honey 
is passed through the crowd, each bee getting 
its scanty dole. 
Economy is now reduced to a fine art. None 
knows when a fresh supply may be available, 
although no chance will be lost to replenish the 
