92 MANUAL OF THE APIAKT. 



incapable of producing any but drones, and are surely the 

 harbingers of death and extinction to the colony, yet they 

 seem to satisfy the workers, for they will not brook the pres- 

 ence of a queen when a fertile worker is in the hive, nor will 

 they sufifer the existence in the hive of a queen-cell, even 

 though capped. They seem to be satisfied, though they have 

 very slight reason to be so. These fertile workers lay indif- 

 ferently in large or small cells — often place several eggs in a 

 single cell, and show their incapacity in various ways. 



The workers, as might be surmised by the importance and 

 variety of their functions, are structurally very peculiar : 

 Their tongues (Pig. 20, a), labial palpi (Fig. 20, b, b), and 

 maxillae (Fig. 20, c, c), are very much elongated, while the 

 former is very hairy, and doubles under the throat when not 

 in use. The length of the ligula enables them to reach into 

 flowers with long tubes, and by aid of the hairs they lap up 

 the nectar. When the tongue is big with its adhering load 

 of sweet, it is doubled back, enclosed by the labial palpi and 



Fig. 21. 



a— Jaw of drone. ft— Jaw of queen c— Jaw of worker. 



maxillae, and then extended, thus losing its load of nectar, 

 which at the same time is sucked into the large honey- 

 stomach. The bees, at will, can force the honey back from 

 the honey-stomach, when it is stored in the honey-cells or 

 given to the other bees. 



The jaws (Pig. 21, c) are very strong, without the rudi- 

 mentary tooth, while the cutting edge is semi-conical, so that 

 when the jaws are closed they form an imperfect cone. Thus 

 those are well formed to cut comb, knead wax, and perform 

 their various functions. Their eyes (Pig. 5) are Hke those of 

 the queen, while their wings, like those of the drones, attain 



