10 



is the development of the worker bee, and under ordinary 

 circumstances the workers constitute ninety-nme per cent ot 

 the individuals of the hive. 



The development of the other two castes differs somewhat 

 m detail and they are produced only under the unusual condi- 

 tions narrated below. If a queen lays before or immediately 

 after mating, without mating at all, or after the supply ot 

 spermatozoa in the spermatheca has become exhausted, or 

 if a worker bee should lay, it is evident that these eggs will 

 not be fertilized. The bees which develop from infertile eggs 

 are always drones. This phenomena, reproduction without fer- 

 tilization, or parthenogenesis, is not uncommon among in- 

 sects, but the results are not always the same as with the hive 

 bee. Drone larvae can usually be recognized by their larger 

 size and bulkier appearance. Their development also takes 

 longer. Usually the eggs hatch in three days, the cells are 

 capped on the seventh day, and the adult emerges on the 

 twenty-fourth day from the egg. The cappings of the cells, 

 too, are usually convex. Under certain conditions, in strong 

 hives with plenty of stores, drones are produced in large 

 numbers from the eggs of a regularly mated queen that is 

 still capable of producing fertile eggs. As they are always 

 produced in large-sized cells, the idea has been advanced that 

 the contracted mouth of the worker cells regulates the me- 

 chanism of fertilization. 



The conditions under which queens are produced are : the 

 disproportionate growth of the colony necessitating division 

 or swarming, the approaching sterility of the old queen, or 

 its accidental loss. As a queen once mated is capable of re- 

 producing for several years, and there is only one queen 

 required in a hive and usually only one tolerated, it is evident 

 that the exigency under which queens are produced is not 

 frequent under natural conditions. When the need for the 

 develooment of a queen arises, the workers break down the 

 wall of a cell in which a fertile young larva (if there are none 

 of these present the colony perishes) is present and begin the 

 construction of the large-sized, peanut-shaped cell previously 

 described. In these cells, for usually a number of them are 

 begun at the same time, the developing larva is not weaned 

 on the third day, but is supplied with the jelly given the young 

 larva of ordinary bees in larpe quantities continuallv through- 

 out its larval existence. Perhaps on account of the abundance 

 and richness of the food, the development is Quicker than with 

 the other castes. The cell is capped on the 5th day, the larva 

 pupates in seven days more, and the mature queen is ready 



