THE WORKER-BEE. 



75 



workers is sometimes very large in a liopelessly queenlcss 

 hive; we have seen at least a dozen laying on the same 

 comb. Mr. Viallon, a noted bee-keeper of Louisiana, once 

 had so miiny in one queenless colony, that ho was able to 

 send several dozen for dissection to bee-keepers in this 

 country and Europe. 



(Fig. SO.) 



COMPARATIVE SIZES OF THE OVARIEJ OF QUBBX AKD WORKER. 



(All magnified. From Girarii.) 

 -<4, queen ovaries; B, laying-worker ovaries; C, sterile-worker ovaries. 



177. Some persons may question the wisdom of Nature 

 in endowing the workers with the means of laying drone- 

 eggs, when there is no queen in the colony to be fecundated 

 by them. But Nature does nothing without purpose. The 

 main cause of the loss of the queen, when there is no brood 

 fit to raise others (107), and therefore, no hopes of sur- 

 vival for the colony, is usually the death of the young queen 

 in her bridal flight (132). At some seasons, the drones 

 are scarce, and a young queen may be compelled to make 

 several trips before she finds one. If she gets lost, the hive 



