food causes her to produce large quantities of eggs, over 3,000 a day 
when honey is coming in. When there is a scarcity of honey, fewer 
eggs are laid. Drone eggs are not fertilized; they are laid in larger cells 
than the worker eggs. This ability of reproduction without fertiliza- 
tion is called parthenogenesis. 
The development of the drone is a longer process : the drone egg is laid 
in a large cell and remains an egg for three days; the larva is fed for six 
and one-half days, then the cell is sealed and remains this wa}^ for four- 
teen and one-half days. Then the drone emerges to Uve his carefree life. 
The worker bee develops in a small cell, in fact just the size of the 
cells the honey is stored in. She is an egg for tliree days, a larva for 
six and a pupa for twelve, making in all twenty-one days from egg 
to bee. She is only fed chyle at first, then bee bread, a coarser honey 
food, and pollen. This method of feeding stunts her physical develop- 
ment, and causes undeveloped reproductive organs. 
For a few days after emerging, the worker bee walks about and 
eats honey, then she starts feeding the young larva, making wax and 
cleaning house. In other words, she does housework for about two 
weeks, flying in front of the hive entrance a little while each day, to get 
her bearings, and at the end of two weeks she becomes a field worker. 
A bee in her lifetime produces about a teaspoonful of honey. This 
gives a slight idea of the thousands of these little insects who have labored 
and died before a colony has stored 100 pounds of honey for its owner. 
Swarms are caused by honey coming in very fast, and filling up 
the hive. When honey comes in this way, the egg laying of the queen 
is increased greatly, so that very soon there is no more room in the 
hive. Then queen cells are started and a swarm is sure to follow. 
Many and curious customs are connected with the care and man- 
agement of bees; among these is the saying that any news in the 
family must be told to the bees; also that they will not prosper with a 
quarrelsome family. In Brittany, P ranee, the hives are decorated with 
scarlet for a wedding and with black when there is a death in the 
family. These customs are most charmingly told in the '"Bee Boy's 
Song," by Kipling, one verse of wliich I quote: 
"Alarriage, birth or burryin^ 
News across the sea. 
All you're sad or merry in, 
You must tell the bees. 
Tell 'em coming in and out 
Where the famiers fan, 
'Cause the bees are just about 
As curious as a man." 
21 
