42 AUSTRALASIAN 



generally slow and matronly, and indeed she looks every inch 

 a queen. 



The drones, or male bees, are much stouter than" either 

 the queen or workers, although their bodies are not so long 

 as that of the queen. They are neither furnished with a 

 sting nor a suitable proboscis for gathering honey, no baskets 

 on their legs for carrying pollen, and no pouches on their 



Fig 6.— THE LEONE. 



abdomens for secreting wax, so that they are physically 

 incapable of doing the ordinary work of the hive. Their 

 office is to impregnate the young queens, but very few have 

 the chance of doing so ; those that have, die immediately 

 afterwards, and the rest are usually destroyed by the workers 

 at the end of the swarming season, having by this time 

 become an incumbrance only. 



Fig. 6.— THE WORKER. 



The worker bees, the smallest in size, constitute the bulk of 

 the population of the hive. A good-sized swarm should contain 

 at least twenty thousand,* and a well-stocked hive, during the 



* About 4000 ordinary bees weigh one pound, so that a 5 lb. swarm contains 

 about 20,000. Good swarms, however, sometimes weigh 7 lb. to 10 lb. 



