CHAPTER XXIV 



THE HONEY BEE AND THE FLY 



THE honey bee (Fig. 230) has been studied and written about for 

 centuries as one of the most interesting of insects. It lives a de- 

 cidedly complex social life and has lent to proohets and teachers 

 of all times many lessons for human conduct. 



The bee is intensely specialized in almost all parts of its body, and 

 as such is of great value to any comparative study of the arthropods. 



Fig. 230. 



Hive bees and comb. A, Worker; K, queen; D, drone; 1, 

 worker with cells filled with honey and covered; 2, cells contain- 

 ing eggs, larvce, and pupae; 3, cells containing pollen; 4, below 

 4 are regular cells; 5, drome cells; 6-10, queen cells. (After 

 Schmeil.) 



Foremost in rank in the hive is the queen. She is the mother of 

 every member of the hive, for she alone, of all the inhabitants, lays eggs. 

 With her, in the summer time, there are some sixty thousand workers 

 and several hundred drones. The latter are killed during the winter. 

 The abdomen of the queen is longer than that of a worker, and there 

 is no pollen basket on the tibia of her hind legs. 



The drone is the male. He lives upon the food gathered by the 

 females. His body is heavy and broad, and no pollen baskets are found 

 on the hind legs. His eyes are larger than those of either queen or 

 worker. 



The worker is an undeveloped female, which can, however, by proper 



