Ber-Keurine. 149 
hive. The workers, or neuters, are the most numerous, and 
perform all the labor, collecting the honey, secreting the wax, 
and building the cell The females Fig. 46, 
and workers have stings at the end 
of the abdomen, but the drones have . 
none. The queen lives in the inte- 
rior of the hive, and seldom leaves 
it except to lead forth aswarm. If 
she be removed from the hive, the 
whole swarm will follow her. The Tux Worker. 
queen is not only the governor, but also the mother of the com- 
munity, she being the only breeder out of 20,000 or 30,000 
bees, on which account she is loved, respected, and obeyed with 
all the external marks of devotion which human beings could 
give to a beloved monarch. 
The queen deposits her eggs in cells previously prepared by 
the workers to receive them. The eggs producing workers are 
deposited in six-sided horizontal cells; the cells of the drones 
are somewhat irregular; those of the queens are larger than 
the others, circular, and hang perpendicularly. The eggs pro- 
ducing workers are laid first, the queen laying about two hun- 
dred eggs daily. The eggs of the drones afterward laid are less 
numerous than those of the worker 8, in the proportion of about 
one to thirty. Eggs for queens are deposited in their proper cells, 
Fig. 47. one in each, at intervals of one or two days. 
j The eggs and larva of the royal family do not 
differ in appearance from those of the work- 
ers, but the young are more carefully nurs- 
ed, and fed with a more stimulating kind of 
food called ‘royal jelly,” which causes them 
to grow so rapidly that in five days the larva 
is prepared to spin its web, and on the six- 
teenth day becomes a perfect queen. But 
x as only one queen can reign in the hive, 
A Boyan Ceut. the young ones are kept close prisoners; and 
earefully guarded against the attacks of the queen mother 
