11 



to emerge on the 14th or 15th day (from the egg). The first 

 queen to emerge usually destroys the remaining queen cells. 

 In this she is assisted by the workers. Should several emerge 

 simultaneously a battle ensues, from which one generally 

 issues triumphant. Occasionally the colony is divided into 

 two or more parts, a part of the bees swarming out with each 

 of the surviving queens until only one queen remains in the 

 hive- As a vagary of bee behavior occasionally two queens are 

 tolerated and live together peaceably in the same hive. The 

 function of the queen and drone is limited to propagation, and 

 for this work a single mated queen is all that is required for 

 the most vigorous colony. 



The drones upon emerging from their cells wander aim- 

 lessly about the hive, being fed by the workers. They gener- 

 ally fly out for a short period each day, usually in the early 

 part of a sunny afternoon. (The young queen usually takes 

 her mating flight at the same time of day.) A hive contain- 

 ing many drones will be readily noticed on account of the 

 peculiar loud buzzing noise that they produce in flight, which 

 is very distinct. 



The natural economy of the colony makes ample provision 

 for the successful mating of the queen, but one occasionally 

 fails to become mated and usually such queens die in the hive 

 — whether starved or killed outright is not definitely known. 

 Sometimes they live and after three or four weeks begin to 

 develop like a mated queen and lay eggs. These eggs being 

 infertile produce only drones. The colony in either case dies 

 out. From the above it will be readily seen that a mated 

 queen is absolutely essential to the continuance of the colony. 



As already pointed out, in the natural economy of the hive, 

 drones are usually produced in numbers when needed. As 

 they are entirely non-producers and at the same time large 

 consumers of the stores of the colony, as soon as their useful- 

 ness ceases they are ruthlessly slaughtered. 



The workers on emerging from their cells begin to feed, and 

 as soon as they have filled themselves with honey and become 

 oriented to the hive, start about their work of taking care of 

 the developing brood, which they attend with assiduous care, 

 literally bathing them, for the first three days, as already 

 stated, in a jelly which is supposed to be elaborated from 

 certain glands of the head ; later in a regurgitated mixture of 

 honey and pollen slightly altered by digestive juices. The 

 feeding of the brood and the production of wax for cell mate- 

 rial is looked after largely by the young bees. The wax itself 

 is secreted from glands over the inner faces of the ventral 



