i4 BEE CULTURE. 
for the purpose of becoming fertile. Once becoming such 
she is so for life, though she often lives three or four years. 
On her return to the hive, after meeting the Drones, if she 
has been fecundated, the male organs may be seen attached 
“HW 
Fia. 1.—The Queen Bee, magnified. 
to her abdomen. In about two days after thus mating with 
the Drone she will commence to lay eggs, and she is capable 
of laying two thousand, or more, eggs per day. 
Instinct teaches the Workers the necessity of having a 
Queen that is prolific, and should she become barren from 
Fig. 2.—Head of Queen, magnified. 
any cause, or be lost, they immediately prepare to raise 
another to take her place. “This they do by building Queen 
eells, and if, when these are about one-half completed, the 
Queen has not deposited eggs in any of them, they take 
