THE HONEY BEE. 1 5 



as, when stung on a garment, where the poison evaporates 

 quickly, and thus gives forth its odour, others, until then 

 well-disposed, will instantly commence to buzz around, and 

 insert their weapons where not needed. The worker has 

 most of the generative organs as in the (jueen, but in a very 

 rudimentary form. The compound eyes are set well apart, 

 the ocelli, or simple eyes (three), being easily discernible, 

 with a strong magnifying glass, on the forehead, between the 

 two compound eyes. It has pollen-baskets, one on each of 

 its two posterior legs, in which it carries pollen and propolis 

 to the hive. The tongue of the worker is much longer than 

 either the queen's or drone's ; hence we see its adaptability 

 for gathering the nectar from the innermost portions of the 

 flowers. On the underneath, and under the articulations of 

 the abdomen, there are receptacles called wax-pockets, in 

 which, when comb building, the wax is secreted, in the form 

 of small scales looking not unlike fish scales ; these are 

 removed by the bee, and kneaded by its jaws, assisted by its 

 anterior legs, into ribbons before forming into comb. It has a 

 receptacle in the anterior portion of the abdomen, called a 

 honey-sac, in which the nectar from the flowers is collected, and 

 transformed, by a chemical action, into honey ; it is also there 

 partially separated from its watery element while the bee is 

 gathering ; this can be easily observed by watching a bee on 

 the wing voiding the water so abstracted. Although in a 

 normal condition the worker bee does not breed, there are 

 exceptional instances where a worker or workers, in a queenless 

 colony, will partially usurp the queen duties, and lay eggs ; but 

 in every such case these eggs produce drones. They are then 

 called "fertile workers." Whether the drones thus produced 

 are capable of fertilisation is a moot point, and has not yet 

 been satisfactorily determined. 



29. Duties of Workers. — What a multiplicity of employ- 

 ments 1 A perfect " Jack of all trades !" All the various and 

 multifold duties appertaining to the well-being of a colony are 

 performed by these industrious little labourers. Directly, or 

 within a few hours of emerging from the cells, work is their 

 portion, continued without intermission until the time when, 

 with torn and battered wings, they are cast out as of no more 

 use. They have worked and worked, living only for work, and 

 dying only when nature is completely exhausted and worn out. 

 When a worker egg is laid in the cell by the mother bee, it 

 hatches in three days ; it is then fed, in the larval stage, for seven 

 days. Having grown to its fullest size, it is capped over by the 

 bees with a mixture of pollen and wax ; this being of a porous 

 nature, allows the immature insect to obtain the requisite amount 

 of oxygen to support its existence. At the end of twenty-one days 

 — twenty days in warm weather — it issues forth, a lightish-coloured, 



