64 NATURAL HISTORY OF THE HONEY BEE. 



work of the hive, the laying of eggs excepted, is carried od 

 by the industrious little workers. 



There may be gentlemen of leisure in the commonwealth 

 of bees, but most assuredly there are no such ladies, whether 

 of high or low degree. The Queen herself, has her full 

 share of duties, for it must be admitted, that the royal office 

 is no sinecure, when the mother who fills it, must daily super- 

 intend the proper deposition of several thousand eggs. 



Age of Bees. 



The Queen bee, (as already stated,) will live four, and 

 sometimes, though very rarely, five or more years. As the 

 life of the drones is usually cut short by violence, it is not 

 easy to ascertain its precise limit. Bevan estimates it not to 

 exceed four months. The workers are supposed by him, to 

 live six or seven nionths> Their age depends, however, very 

 much upon their greater or less exposure to injurious influ- 

 ences and severe labors. Those reared in the Spring and 

 early part of Summer, and on whom the heaviest labors of 

 the hive necessarily devolve, do not appear to live more than 

 two or three months, while those which are bred at the close 

 of Summer, and early in Autumn, being able to spend a 

 large part of their time in repose, attain a much greater age. 

 It is very evident that " the bee," (to use the words of a 

 quaint old writer,) " is a Summer bird," and that with the 

 exception of the Queen, none live to be a year old.* 



Notched and ragged wings, instead of gray hairs and 

 wrinkled faces, are the signs of old age in the bee, and in- 



* If an Italian Queen be given, in the working season, to a colony of 

 common bees, the great mass of the latter will disappear in about 

 three months. This is a new, and perfectly conclusive proof, of the 

 short limit of a worker's life. 



