MANUAL OF THE APIARY. 



CHAPTEE III. 



NATUEAL HISTOEY OF THE HONEY-BEE. 



Close examination of any prosperous colony of bees, in the summer season, 

 will discoYer a marked difference in the indiyiduals composing it. A large 

 majority will appear small, a few hundred large and heavy, while a single one 

 will fix attention by her long, tapering abdomen. Thus we hare the workers, 

 drones, and queen: the first being undcYeloped females, called neuters; the 

 second, males ; and the last the fully developed female. Let us examine these 

 in detail. 



r 

 THE NEUTEES, OR WOEKER-BEES. 



These (see Fig. 1) are by far the most numerous iadividuals of the hive, 

 there being from 20,000 to 40,000 in every good colony. They are also the 

 smallest members of the colony, measuring but little more than one-half inch 

 in length, and being only two-thirds the length of the queen. They 

 also possess peculiarities of structure which at once distinguish 

 them from both the queen and drones. Their tongues (see Pig. 

 13.) are almost twice as long as in either the drone or queen ; their 

 jaws are much stronger ; their wings, like the wings of the drone, 

 attain the extremity of the body, while the tibia and tarsi — ^names 

 given to the last joints of the legs — of the posterior legs are hollowed out, 



Pig. 1. 



Fig. Z. 



forming pollen-baskets, in which respect they differ from both the drones and 

 the queen ; the eyes do not differ from the same in the queen, but are smaller 

 than those of the drone, and do not meet above. 



