THE bees' home. 23 



flying in and out of the hive ? No ; only I notice that some of the 

 bees have much shorter wings than the others. They are old bees, 

 and their wings are much worn with constant use. You must re- 

 member the number of trips they make daily, and the many miles 

 they have to travel. 



Well, now let us have a look inside at the bee nation, so 

 poetically described by fanciful writers; but it is not a nation — ■ 

 it is only a home where dwells the mother, the father, and the 

 children. No; that is wrong. There is no father. He is dead. 

 Bee progeny are always posthumous. There are drones in here, but 

 they are not fathers. You see, this is a 10-frame hive; it is too 

 large for around Sydney. I will lift the quilt at one corner and 

 blow in a little smoke. You will note the Why and the Where- 

 fore further on. That dark sticky stuff on the top of the frames 

 that makes the quilt adhere so firmly is termed by bee-keepers 

 bee-glue. It is a substance bees procure chiefly from the buds of 

 trees. There is not much in this outside frame but honey. That 

 glistening liquid is the new honey they are just bringing in. Those 

 cells on the top of the frame are filled and sealed over. They will 

 keep that for winter use unless it is required earlier. You will see 

 these cells on the outer parts of the comb are larger than those 

 more in the centre. The larger ones are drone cells and the 

 smaller workers' There are not many bees on this frame ; we 

 shall find more towards the centre of the hive. Here, look ! 

 These bees hanging down in a festoon like a chain are 

 wax workers. Oh, beeswax is a secretion that forms in eight 

 little pockets that are found in the under part of the body of all 

 workers, but not in the queen or drone. Let us take a frame 

 from the centre of the hive. I shall find all we want to see there. 

 Yes, just as I expected ! Here is brood in all the stages of de- 

 velopment. See the little white specks at the bottom of these 

 cells? No? Here, let the sun shine in on them. I thought you 

 would see them then. These are the eggs the queen has laid either 

 to-day or yesterday. These little fat fellows curled around in the 

 bottom of the cell are bee grubs a few days old. These big fellows 

 that almost fill up the whole cell have nearly completed their grub 

 stage. Where the brown caps are on the cells are the young bees 

 in their last stage of development. Here is one that is just 

 eating her way out. That little woolly fellow, after about twenty- 

 one days of imprisonment, has just come out to see what the bee- 

 home is like. These light-coloured woolly ones that are running 

 about more nimbly are older. They are now engaged in the duty 



