86 THE LORE OF THE H0N£Y-BEE 



but to bring to maturity the young spring-broods. 

 Not a bee among them will ever again go honey- 

 gathering. Except for the long-lived queen- 

 mother, and the old hive and its furniture, each 

 colony with every year becomes a totally new 

 thing. 



Hibernation, in the true sense of the word, has 

 no part in bee-life. The queen-wasp and count- 

 less other creatures hibernate, passing the cold 

 months in a torpor of sleep until the enduring 

 warmth of another year lures them back to active 

 existence. But the honey-bees have a better way : 

 they gather together in a dense, all but motion- 

 less cluster in the heart of the hive, with their 

 precious queen in their midst and their food-stores 

 above them. At this time honey is their only 

 necessary food, and very little of this suffices to 

 keep up the needful temperature of the colony. 

 When they are out and about at their work, or 

 busy within the hive, the nitrogenous pollen must 

 be added to their daily ration of nectar to build up 

 wasted tissues ; but now honey, the nectar con- 

 centrated, the heat-producer, is all they want. 

 The bees of the cluster nearest to the combs 

 broach the full cells beneath them, and the honey 

 is passed through the crowd, each bee getting 

 its scanty dole. 



Economy is now reduced to a fine art. None 

 knows when a fresh supply may be available, 

 although no chance will be lost to replenish the 



