12 Bee-keeping for Beginners. 



fattens ; to-morrow it will glitter as the brilliant 

 setting in the bracelet and eardrops of the gay and 

 thoughtless belle. 



There are four separate stages in the development 

 of insects : The egg, the larva, the pupa, and the 

 imago. The eggs of bees are of two kinds, and under 

 ordinary circumstances and treatment produce two 

 different kinds of bees. One sort produces drones, 

 and the other sort produces workers. Workers are 

 really undeveloped queens, but the eggs of workers if 

 treated in a different manner will produce perfect 

 queens. From the egg comes the larva, also called 

 the grub or maggot. These are worm-shaped usually, 

 have strong jaws, simple eyes, and the body plainly 

 marked in ring divisions. In some insects there are 

 fourteen of these rings or segments, or ten beside the 

 head and three rings of the thorax. In bees and 

 nearly all other insects there is one less abdominal 

 ring. The larvae of bees, as of other insects, are vora- 

 cious eaters. The next stage is the pupa stage, 

 during which the bee is in profound repose, as if 

 resting after its enormous meal. The last form of 

 all is the winged form, sometimes called the imago 

 stage. 



If a hive of bees was examined in May or June it 

 would be found to contain three kinds of bees, viz., 

 one queen, a few hundred drones, and many thousands 

 of workers. By looking at fig. i it will be seen that 

 the queen bee is smaller than the drone, but larger 



