the Common, or Working Bee ; and the 

 Drone, or Male Bee : — 



THE QUEEN, OK MOTHER BEE, 



Is very rarely to be seen : she is darker, longer, 

 and more taper towards the end of her body than 

 the common bees, has shorter legs and wings, 

 and is of a yellowish brown color underneath. 

 She reigns supreme in the hive, admitting no 

 rival or equal ; and is armed with a sting, which 

 is somewhat more curved than that of the 

 common bees. Where she goes, the other bees 

 follow; and where she is not, none will long re- 

 main. A queen bee has been known to live four 

 or five years ; she is the mother of the entire 

 community, laying the eggs from which all pro- 

 ceed, whether future queens, drones, or workers. 

 Separate her from the family, and she speedily 

 resents the injury, refuses food, pines, and dies. 

 Without a queen, or a prospect of one, labor is 

 suspended, and a gradual dispersion of the com- 

 munity ensues. The young queens are not bred 

 in the hexagonal cells of the common bees, but 

 in much larger ones, which, when complete, 

 present in form the appearance of a pear, or an 

 oblong spheroid, generally appended perpendi- 

 cularly to the sides of the combs, the small end 

 or mouth being downwards. They vary in 

 number from five or six to a dozen, and sometimes 

 more. The eggs deposited in the royal cells, are 

 laid after those of common bees and drones, the 

 young princesses arriving at maturity on the six- 

 teenth day. Of these we shall speak more at large 

 hereafter. This is the common course of events ; 

 but it is a well-established fact, that in case of 

 an emergency the bees have the power (provided 

 there is brood -comb in the hive at the time) of 

 filling the casual vacancies in the sovereignty, by 

 the creation (as it may be termed) of a young 

 queen, thus in fact proving that the prevalent 

 notion as to an inherent difference between royal 

 and common eggs is erroneous. They select one 

 of the common grubs in a certain stage, enlarge 

 and alter the cell that contains it, and by a 

 different kind of nurture (a point, however, ques- 

 tioned by some naturalists), a sovereign is reared, 

 and the work of procreation recommences. 



THE COMMON, OR WORKING- BEES, 



Are the least in size, and in point of numbers are 

 variously calculated at twelve to thirty thousand, 

 according to the bulk of the swarm ; though at 

 certain times they are often much more nume- 

 rous. As regards sex, there is no reason to 

 doubt they are females in which the reproductive 

 organs are not fully developed ; and like the 

 Queen or Mother Bee, each has the power of 

 stinging. 



The eggs of the bee are about the size of those 

 produced by a butterfly. Those for workers are 

 deposited in the cells in the centre of the hive, 

 being the part first selected for that purpose. 

 The brood of common bees, more or less 

 advanced, is to be found in a stock hive nearly 

 all the year round ; but the great laying of the 

 queen takes place in April and May, when the 

 number of eggs produced by her has been esti- 

 mated at from 100 to 200 in a day. Taking as 

 our guide the calculations of many apiarians, a 

 good queen (for they are not all prolific alike) 

 will lay in a year from 40,000 to 80,000, or more. 



Dr. Bevan remarks, (i This sounds like a great 

 number, but it is much exceeded by some other 

 insects." In four or five clays the eggs are 

 hatched, remaining in the larva or grub state four 

 to six clays more, during which time they are 

 assiduously fed by the nurse-bees. They then 

 assume the nymph or pupa form, and spin them- 

 selves a film or cocoon, the nurses immediately 

 after sealing them up with a substance which 

 Huber calls wax. It is, howe r, thicker, more 

 highly colored, and apparently less tenacious, 

 probably to facilitate the escape of the im- 

 prisoned bee. This takes place about the 

 twenty-first day from the laying of the egg. It 

 is speedily cleaned by its companions, and in a 

 day or two has been known to be gathering 

 honey in the fields. 



As soon as the young bee comes forth, the 

 others clear the cell from all impurity, and it 

 again receives an egg; this being often repeated — 

 four or five times in the season. Afterwards the 

 cell becomes a receptacle for honey ; but with all 

 their attention, the cells are found in time to 

 become contracted or thickened by this rapid 

 succession of tenants. When this takes place, 

 it is best gradually to remove the combs, in the 

 way hereafter to be pointed out, which the bees 

 will soon replace with new ones. It has been 

 asserted that young bees, bred in old contracted 

 cells, are proportionately smaller in size. 



Though we have, as I conceive, no actual 

 proof that the occupations of individual bees are 

 at all times unchangeably directed to one point 

 (as some naturalists have imagined), observa- 

 tion shows that the division of labor is one of 

 their leading characteristics. Some are engaged 

 in secreting and elaborating wax for the con- 

 struction of combs in the hive; others in warm- 

 ing the eggs, and feeding the brood ; in attending 

 on their queen, to whom they are devotedly 

 attached ; in guarding and giving notice of at- 

 tacks or annoyance from without ; and the rest 

 in searching the fields and woods for the purpose 

 of collecting honey and farina for present and 

 future store. The working bees are short-lived ; 

 and it is shown pretty clearly by Dr. Bevan and 

 others, that six or eight months is the limit of 

 their duration ; for notwithstanding the im- 

 mense annual increase, the numbers in a hive 

 dwindle down very perceptibly towards the end 

 of the } r ear. Even in the middle of the summer 

 their wings become torn and ragged. There is 

 no doubt, I think, that every bee existing at 

 Christmas was bred during the latter part of the 

 spring or summer: and this may be a sufficient 

 answer to those who sometimes inquire what 

 becomes of the accumulation of bees, managed 

 on the depriving system, where neither swarm- 

 ing nor destruction takes place. 



We might here allude to a prevalent error as 

 to any inherent difference in the characteristics 

 of the common honey bee. When we hear it 

 said, that some are " better workers" than 

 others, all that ought to be understood is, that 

 the family has the advantage of being under 

 favorable circumstances as to locality or season: 

 with a fertile queen, and an adequatepopulation. 



THE DRONE, OR MALE BEES, 



Are computed in the spring at one to two thou- 



