l6 THE BOOK OF BEE-KEEPING. 



downy little creature. It spends the first twelve hours of 

 Its existence in idleness, but directly after commences to an 

 the part of nurse to the larva;, feeding them with as much 

 assiduity as one would suppose appertained to an older head ; 

 this employment is continued for about a fortnight. If there is 

 any comb-building going on, it will take its turn at this ; but at 

 the end of this time it goes forth to collect honey and pollen, 

 wherewith to nourish its fellows of the hive. By this you will 

 note how much better it is to examine a colony in the warm 

 part of the day, if honey is coming in, as then the old bees (the 

 ones that sting) are foraging in the fields, leaving the youngsters 

 at home, who are more easily dealt with. By it the honey is 

 collected and brought into the hive, where it is disgorged into 

 the cells prepared for it. Pollen is gathered from the stamens 

 of the flowers by means of the anterior legs and hairs of the 

 worker's body ; and, while the bee is poised on the wing, it is 

 removed and transferred to its mouth, and then on to its 

 posterior legs. When the bee has thus formed two huge, bright, 

 coloured lumps, it flies back to the hive, and places it in a cell, 

 there to be properly packed by the other bees, until it is 

 wanted to feed the numberless immature bees waiting for it. 

 The worker collects the propolis in much the same manner, and 

 carries it into the hive, where it is removed from its legs by the 

 other bees, and then used to stop up all crevices, or fix any 

 loose portions of the hive. The worker-bee is the water-carrier, 

 and keeps the hive well supplied if it is obtainable within a 

 reasonable distance. Another important duty is performed 

 by the worker — that of ventilation ; watch a hive at mid- 

 day, and note the vigour with which the several bees at 

 the entrance fan, with their wings, the cool, refreshing air in ; 

 others in the inside are doing their duty by fanning an equal 

 quantity of hot, vitiated air out. The removal of all debris and 

 filth is another important sanitary occupation which devolves 

 upon the worker bee ; in this, as in all things, its great industry 

 develops itself Note a bee struggling with the corpse of a 

 deceased member, and then flying off with the same, dropping 

 it some distance away from the hive. All little pieces of comb, 

 or foreign matter of any description, are laboriously removed 

 to the outside. The worker-bee stands foremost as the most 

 wonderful type of an insect-architect and builder, although the 

 idea that it makes the cells hexagonal, with such geometrical 

 precision as we see them, is, according to our ideas, a fallacy. 

 The hexagonal form is produced by the pressure from the 

 surrounding cells, as, when first commenced, they are circular. 

 Look at the outermost cells of a comb just commenced ; 

 they are circular at their outside edges ; it is only when they 

 meet the walls of the surrounding cells that the hexagonal 

 form is produced. A queen-cell is circular ; it has no sur- 

 rounding cells to produce the hexagonal form. The worker- 



