CHAPTER I. 



THE QUEEN. 



Every association of bees is composed of three classes, 

 viz : a queen, drones and workers, and when separated 

 from their natural connections, they loose all their attri- 

 butes of industry and soon perish in inaction. 



The queen is the mother of the entire increase of 

 every family of bees, unless in rare cases of the exist- 

 ance of a few fertile workers, that produce drone eggs 

 only, of which I shall speak hereafter. The queen is 

 longer than either drones or workers, and much larger in 

 every respect than a worker, but not so large as a drone. 

 Her trunk or body is shorter than that of the other two 

 classes, and her abdomen tapers to a point, in the form 

 of a sugar-loaf. Her legs are longer than those of drones 

 and workers, but have no cavities or baskets for holding 

 gathered stores. The most remarkable feature pertain- 

 ing to her majesty, is the shortness of her wings, reach- 

 ing only to about two-thirds of the length of her abdo- 

 men. Her color is much darker than workers, and 

 sometimes approaching to a jet black ; that is, upon her 



