CHAPTER II. 



ECONOMY OF HIVE BEE. 



Gathering Bees—Comb— Pollen and Honey— Eggs, 

 Larva?, and Pupa? — Foragers and Nurses — 

 Skin and Bowel Moulting and Cocoon Spinning 

 — Drones and Queens — Swarming and Comb 

 Building. 

 In order that we may possess an intelligent under- 

 standing of the need and suitability of the various 

 complex parts and organs proper to Hive Bees, and 

 which we are about to consider in detail, it will be 

 necessary for us to pass in review a general outline 

 of the economy of the hive, noting at present only 

 the salient points. We will imagine that our study 

 is undertaken on a fine summer day, and that the 

 hive we have at command is in a normal, healthy, 

 and prosperous condition, and such an one also as to 

 afford us every facility for examination. As we stand 

 before its entrance, bees in quick succession make 

 their appearance at the hive door, and in such 

 haste as seems to indicate that they are impressed 

 with the importance of their mission, for they are no 

 sooner well visible than they are away in some 

 definite direction ; but others are returning, and these, 



