OR, PLAIN 



thousand individuals, divided, 

 first, into workers, 6, or females 

 incapable of reproduction ; se- 

 condly, into stingless males, or 

 drones, 7 ; and thirdly, a female 

 called the queen-bee, 8, the parent 

 of the future progeny of the hive. 



8 



710. 



^Besides these there are the eggs 

 and larvae, forming the rising 

 brood. 



We generally find four swarms 

 issuing every year from the same 

 hive, each headed by its queen. 

 The first swarm is conducted by 

 the old reigning queen, who pre- 

 viously to her departure has at 

 separate intervals laid female 

 eggs in the royal cells ; of these, 

 the first-born is usually the for- 

 tunate candidate for the vacant 

 throne, and in turn leads off 

 another swarm, and so on in 

 succession. " The longest in- 

 terval," say Kirby and Spence, 

 " between the swarms is from 

 seven to nine days, which is 

 usually the space that intervenes 

 between the first and second ; 

 the third flies sooner, and the 

 last sometimes departs the day 

 after the third. Fifteen or eigh- 

 teen days are generally sufficient 

 for throwing the four swarms. 



teaching. 28 1 



The old queen, when she takes 

 flight with the first swarm, leaves 

 plenty of brood in the cells, 

 which soon renew the popula- 

 tion." When a swarm quits a 

 hive, it generally clusters on a 

 tree or bush, 9, in the neighbour- 



711. 



hood, and if it be not soon 

 secured, it takes flight, and pro- 

 ceeds in search of some con- 

 venient abode.* 



The economy of a bee-hive, 10, 

 or colony of bees, has been thus 

 fully described by Mr. Newman 

 in his " Introduction to the Study 

 of Insects " : — 



"A bee-hive contains three 

 kinds of individuals, — a queen, 

 drones, and workers ; the queen 

 is a female, and not only the 

 ruler, but, in great part, the 

 mother of the community ; the 

 drones are males, and the workers 

 are abortive females. The sole 

 office of the queen appears to be 

 the laying of eggs, and this occu- 



* The method of hiving- and preserving- bees, talunjr 

 honey, &c, is given m the Dictionary of Daily 

 Wants. 



