AtJGUST, 1909.] 



149 



Live Stock. 



house will have been freed from vermin 

 for a time, bat the eggs of the insects have 

 not been destroyed, and in a week an- 

 other swarm will be hatched ont. There- 

 fore, it will be necessary to repeat the 

 operation once or twice before the pests 



are exterminated. After this, care 

 should be taken to see that no strange 

 fowl be admitted to the house or yard 

 without having been thoroughly rid of 

 lice, as one affected hen will contaminate 

 all the rest. 



NOTES ON BEE-KEEPING. 



By A. P. Goonatillake. 



Amongst the inmates of the hive, 

 the Queen claims our first attention. 

 She is the mother of all the inmates 

 under normal conditions, the life of the 

 colony and the source of its prosperity. 

 She lives from three to six years, which 

 is extraordinary when compared with 

 that of her worker or drone offspring. 

 With regard to the egg-laying powers, a 

 queen is at her best in her second year. 

 The queen is larger than the other 

 inmates, viz., drones and workers, her 

 body is more tapering, and her wings 

 proportionately shorter, and when closed 

 are folded across the body. The colour 

 of her body is generally more decided, al- 

 though varying to a degree With different 

 queens of the same race. Her tongue 

 is shorter than those of the workers, as 

 also the sting, whichis short and curved, 

 and seldom used except in combat with 

 a rival. Her legs are longer than those of 

 the workers, of dark brownish colour, 

 and are minus the pollen baskets pro- 

 vided on the legs of the worker. The 

 queen's sole duty and concern is the 

 reproduction of her species. She mates 

 but once in her life, and this takes 

 place outside the hive, generally when 

 she is three to six days old.* Her 

 food is of a rich nutritious character, 

 and is supplied her by the workers. 

 Daring the height of the season the 

 que»n lays up to 3,000 eggs a day. 

 When her body is dissected some im- 

 portant peculiarities are observed, a 

 knowledge of which is absolutely neces- 

 sary, accounting as it does for some 

 apparently curious phases of bee culture. 



Situated in the abdomen and taking 

 the place of the large air sacks fouud in 

 the worker are two large ovaries or egg 

 chambers, having tubes brought to a 

 junction like the letter Y ; this is the 

 channel carrying the eggs to the ovipo- 

 sitor. In the region of the junction just 

 referred to is a small spherical chamber 

 called the spermatheca, which receives 



* "Gleanings in Be i Culture" gives iustances 

 where fertile queens tike their mating Ifight more 

 than ouce. 



the male element at time of copulation, 

 and which is sufficient to fertilise millions 

 of eggs. The queeu has power to lay 

 eggs that will produce workers or 

 drones at will. It is now known that an 

 egg which is destined to become a 

 worker, receives in its passage to the 

 ovipositor a minute quantity of the 

 fertilising agent stored up in the sper- 

 matheca just spoken of. On the con- 

 trary, if the queen wishes to produce 

 drones the egg passes direct from the 

 ovaries to the cell prepared for its 

 reception, and thus by a process known 

 as parthenogenesis a drone has a mother 

 but no father. By this we understand 

 that, should a young queen fail to be- 

 come impregnated, she must inevitably 

 become a drone breeder only, or if 

 through injury to the spermatheca or 

 exhaustion by reason of old age, she will 

 only be able to lay drone eggs. Not- 

 withstanding all the noble qualities that 

 have been attributed to the queen, she 

 is little more than an egg-laying machine 

 to be cared for and valued as long as she 

 can be of service to the stock ; but when 

 exhausted through old age or no longer- 

 able to fulfil the duties of her position, 

 she is speedily superseded without 

 ceremony, although for several months, 

 perhaps, after her successor has taken 

 over her duties, she is allowed to live as 

 a pensioner. We have known the 

 mother and daughter to live peaceably 

 together in one hive for a number of 

 months, both laying during this period. 

 In some instances we have fouud two 

 queens in wild hives too. 



The Drone. -The drone is the male, 

 and cannot well be mistaken for either 

 queen or worker. He is a dark burly 

 looking insect larger than the worker, 

 and broader than the queen. He flies' out 

 during the warmest part of the day, at 

 which time the virgin queens usually go 

 out for their wedding flight. In flying 

 he makes a peculiar buzzing sound quite 

 unlike the noise made by the worker, 

 and much less musical than the tone 

 produced by the queen. The drone has 

 very large compound eyes meeting at the 

 top of the head and crowding the three 

 simple eyes below ; he has no sting, his 

 tongue is shorter, and he has no wax 

 secreting organs. The drone is he- 



