DETERMINATION OF AGE IN HONEY-BEES. 19J 



Determination of Age in Honey-Bees. 



By 

 Helen L,. M. Pixell-Ooodrlch, D.Sc. 



With Plate 11. 



It is of the utmost importance in the study of certain bee 

 diseases to be able to separate definitely bees dying of a 

 specific disease from those which are merely dying of old 

 age. In the height of the honey-flow worker bees are said 

 literally to work themselves to death in about six weeks after 

 hatching. Consequently during the summer the normal 

 daily mortality is very high — from a hive of fifty thousand 

 workers being at least several hundreds. The last bees 

 hatched out in autumn hibernate with the queen and thus 

 attain an age of several months. It is popularly supposed 

 and stated in some books on apiculture that an old bee may 

 he recognised by her worn appearance^ her body tending to 

 be hairless and her wings frayed. The inaccuracy of this 

 general statement and the uselessness of such a diagnosis for 

 scientific purposes was soon apparent. I have carefully 

 examined bees of many months in age (e.g. autumn bees 

 flying in May) and compared them with those of a few weeks 

 without finding any constant external differences. Conversely, 

 relatively young bees may become hairless and their wings 

 frayed under exceptional circumstances. 



As a rule old bees die away from home, possibly during a 

 foraging expedition, but they sometimes appear to return, 



