Cottager and Smallholder 3 



in comparison to the size of the body are shorter, the back 

 is darlier in colour, while the underside of the abdomen has 

 a golden tinge. The natural life of a queen is five years. 

 She is in her prime in the second season, and should not as 

 a rule be kept beyond that period. 



A two year old queen is capable of laying from two to three 

 thousand eggs a day. The output of eggs is regulated by the 

 workers. They feed the queen upon digested food, and if an 

 abundance of this is given a large number of eggs are pro- 

 duced, but if the queen is fed sparingly their number is 

 reduced accordingly. 



There is but one queen in the hive ; a dual monarchy is 

 not tolerated. Rival queens, if present, will fight each other 

 until only one remains. The queen has a sting which is 



Fig. 3. 



curved ; it is only used on an adversary. She leaves the hive 

 on two occasions — as a virgin for mating (this when once 

 accomplished lasts for life), and when accompanying a swarm. 

 Workers are undeveloped females, and are the labourers of 

 the colony. They are small and very active, have a per- 

 fectly straight sting which is used in defence of the home and 

 its contents. They gather nectar from the flowers and 

 convert it into honey, store and seal it over in the cells, 

 secrete wax, build the combs, and collect and bring in pollen 

 and propolis. The former, the farinaceous food of bees, the 

 latter, a gummy substance gathered from the buds of trees, 

 used as a cement in the hive for stopping crevices, Ac. The 

 duration of a worker's 5ife in the working season is about 

 six weeks, her strenuous labours wearing her out in this short 

 period. AVorkers born in the autumn having very little work 

 to do live till the following spring. 



b2 



