THE YOUNG NATURALIST. 



28 



eight months. The workers form the main 

 portion of the hive, they collect the honey, 

 they carry home the pollen, they gather the 

 sticky propolis ; and it is upon them that the 

 defence of the hive devolves. 



The Droll© has a very similar history in 

 its early stages, with this exception, it takes 

 twenty-five days to mature instead of twenty- 

 one, and the egg w hich produces a Trone Bee 

 is laid in a larger cell, especially made for the 

 purpose. The Drone leads a very lazy life, 

 it is the male' bee, it comes into existence 

 about May, and is destroyed by the workers 

 in July or August. The reason of so many 

 Drones, is to secure the fertilization of the 

 Virgin Queens, which takes place in the 

 open-air, they also, I believe, keep up the 

 temperature of the hive, thus releasing a 

 large number of workers. 



The Queen, or Mother Bee, is, how- 

 ever, the wonder of the hive. The egg from 

 which she is raised, is laid in a specially 

 formed cell, something like an acorn in 

 shape, the grub is fed with a highly nitro- 

 genous food, and she emerges a perfect 

 emale after a period of only sixteen days. 

 She lives for akout four years. J 



until it assumes a pear shape, and at the end 

 eight days she is covered in, and begins to 

 spin her cocoon, which occupies one day, she 

 then rests for two days sixteen hours, when 

 she assumes the proper stage, in which state 

 she remains for four days and eight hours, 

 coming out a perfect Queen in a total period 

 of sixteen days. This- change of food, and 

 change of cell produces a wondrous change 

 of structure. She has a differently shaped 

 tongue to the Worker Bee, her hind legs are 

 flat instead of concave, she has no fringe of 

 hair, to form the baskets for carrying pollen. 

 Such is one of the greatest wonders of the 

 hive. The young Queen sets forth during 

 the next bright weather to meet her mate, 

 here is the reason of the number of Drones, 

 as if there were but a few, she might in her 

 flight easily miss becoming fertilized. On 

 her return from her wedding tour she does 

 not again leave the hive, except with a swarm. 

 Her duties are egg laying, and in ihis art she 

 is a regular proficient. It has been calculated 

 with certainty that during the summer she 

 lays no less than 2000 eggs per diem. She 

 continues laying more or less for some nine 

 months of each year, thus becoming the 



The question arises, what happens if the | mother of some, in round numbers, 300,000 

 ^ueen meets with some casualty ? How can ! bees in each year. This rapid propogation is 



ler place be provided ? If this happen in the 

 vinter time the hive must perish unless a 

 ^ueen is provided by the Bee Master, but if 

 t happens during the period when young 



needed to keep up the population of the hive. 

 The Worker Bees always treat their Queen 

 with great respect and care, they surround 

 her with a guard of honor, and feed her in 



Drood and eggs are in the comb, then the | the most loving manner. If a strange Queen 



3ees provide themselves with a Queen in the 

 ollowing marvellous manner. When a hive 

 las come to the knowledge of the absence of 

 1 Queen, and settled down seriously to work 

 liter the consequent excitement, they select, 

 n some suitable position, an egg, which, in 

 >rdinary circumstances, would produce a 

 vVorker Bee. The surrounding cell walls are 

 )roken down, so as to enlarge the particular 

 ell in which the selected egg is placed. As 

 oon as it is hatched it is fed with a par- 

 ocular food, popularly called royal jelly, 

 rhe cell is gradually enlarged by the males, 



enters the hive, the Workers will not insult 

 or attack her, but surround her, until she is 

 brought face to face with their Queen, who 

 furiously attacks her, and stings her to death. 



Such are a few of the most interesting 

 facts concerning a hive of Bees, which I hope 

 will lead many who read the Young Naturalist 

 to become owners of Bees. If it had been in 

 the province of a Natural History Magazine 

 to describe Bee keeping, I should much like 

 to have done so, as the modern system of Bar 

 frame hives is so vastly superior to the old 

 straw skeps. 



