PERSONALITY OF THE HONEY-BEE 13 



most helpless of all perfect creatures. He spends 

 the greater part of his time battening on the 

 stores gathered by his sisters and making himself 

 a considerable nuisance by his dirty, indolent 

 habits. He only ventures out about noon when 

 the weather is perfect and bright skies and 

 balmy air provide attractions. 



But workers and drones would alike be useless 

 for the purpose of maintaining the continuity of 

 the race. There exists, therefore, one single, 

 solitary, almost pathetic figure in every hive, 

 a figure which stands to the colony as a representa- 

 tion of the very highest ideals, a life so precious 

 that it never ventures out of the safety of the city, 

 but is carefully guarded, tended, and fed all its 

 days. This is what has been known for centuries 

 as the Queen Bee, the sole and undisputed mother 

 of the race. She it is who gives birth to all the 

 teeming thousands that inhabit the hive during 

 summer, who lives her whole existence in the dark 

 interior, doing nothing from dusk to dawn and 

 from dawn to dusk, but lay eggs in the countless 

 cradles continually being prepared for their 

 reception. 



She is not greatly different in appearance from 

 the worker bees. Indeed, until one is well 

 accustomed to examining a hive, it is very 

 difficult to detect her among the multitudes 

 thronging the combs in the height of summer. 

 Once recognised, however, there is no doubt of 



