THE HIVE-BEE. 447 



of glass set in the back. When the hive is in full operation, the 

 combs are so crowded with Bees that their structure can hardly 

 be seen ; but in the illustration the Bees are supposed to have 

 gone away, with the exception of one individual. 



I need not, in this place, repeat the well-known facts respect- 

 ing the constitution of the Bees, nor describe the duties of the 

 Queen, Drone, and Worker Bees. Suffice it to say that the for- 

 mer is the mother as well as the queen of the hive ; that the 

 workers are undeveloped females, which are properly called neu- 

 ters ; and that the drones are males, which do no work, and have 

 no stings. 



In the illustration, the Queen Bee is seen walking over the 

 combs, and in this position she exhibits the peculiarities of form 

 which distinguish her from her subjects, and which enables an 

 experienced eye to detect her at once amid a crowd of workers. 

 In the Queen Bee, the abdomen is long in proportion to its width, 

 and the wings slightly cross each other when closed, the latter 

 being a very conspicuous badge of sovereignty. The drones are 

 easily distinguished by their generally larger size, their larger 

 eyes, and the wide, blunt, and rounded abdomen. 



The lower part of the comb, in the foreground, is formed of 

 cells which are closed at their mouth, and which do not show the 

 hexagonal shape as well as those which are yet iempty. Some 

 of the empty cells are shown ajsove, and the Queen Bee is repre- 

 sented as making her way toward them. 



There are three kinds of cell in a hive, namely, the worker 

 cell, the drone cell, and the royal cell. Of these, the two former 

 are hexagonal, but can easily be distinguished by the greater size 

 of the drone cell ; while the royal cell is totally unlike the nurs- 

 ery of a subject, whether drone or worker, and is almost always 

 placed on the edge of a comb. One of these cells is shown in 

 the illustration, and may be seen on the edge of the comb in the 

 foreground. It is very much larger than an ordinary cell, and is 

 built with a lavish expenditure of wax that affords a curious con- 

 trast with the rigid economy observed in the structure of the 

 other cells. The difference of size between the worker and the 

 drone cells is shown in the central comb, where the worker cells 

 are seen below, and the drone cells above. 



The little grub which is placed in the royal cell is not fed with 

 the same food which is supplied to the other Bees, but lives upon 

 an entirely different diet, and which is, apparently, of a more 



