Function of Worlcei-s. 95 



seem that forty thousand was too small a figure for the num- 

 ber of workers. AVithout doubt a greater number is possible. 

 That it is rare is not surprising, when we remember the 

 numerous accidents and vicissitudes that must ever attend the 

 individuals of these popidous communities. 



The function of the worker-bees is to do all the manual 

 labor of the hives. They secrete the wax, which forms in 

 small scales (Fig. 30, •!(') under the over-lapping rings under 

 the abdomen. I have found these wax-scales on both old and 

 young. According to Fritz Miiller, the admirable German 

 observer, so long a traveler in South America, the bees of the 

 genus IMelipona secrete the wax on the back. 



The young bees build the comb, ventilate the hive, feed 

 the larvffi and cap the cells. The older bees — for, as readily 

 seen in Italianizing, the young bees do not go forth for the 

 first two weeks — gather the honey, collect the pollen, or bee- 

 bread as it is generally called, bring in the propolis or bee 

 glue, which is used to close openings and as a cement, supply, 

 the hive with water (?), defend the hive from all imisroper 

 intrusion, destroy drones when their day of grace is past, kill 

 and arrange for replacing worthless queens, destroy inchoate 

 queens, drones, or even workers, if circumstances demand it, 

 and lead forth a portion of the bees when the conditions impel 

 them to swarm. 



AVhen there are no young bees, the old bees will act as 

 house-keepers and nurses, which they otherwise refuse to do. 

 The young bees, on the other hand, vn\l not go forth to glean, 

 even though there be no old bees to do this necessary part of 

 bee-duties. An indirect function of all the bees is to supj^ly 

 animal heat, as the very life of the bees requires that the 

 temperature inside the hive be maintained at a rate consider- 

 ably above freezing. In the chemical processes attendant 

 upon nutrition, much neat is generated, which, as first sho-\\'n 

 by Newport, may be considerably augmented at the pleasure 

 of the bees, by forced respiration. The bees, by a rapid 

 vibration of their wings, have the power to ventilate their 

 hives and reduce the temperature when the weather is hot. 

 Thus they are able to moderate the heat of summer, and tem- 

 per the cold of winter. 



