ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 
Queen, Drones, and Workers. 
There are three kinds of bees in every stock or colony, a queen, a nnn.n# 
of drones, and a far greater number of workers. The accompanying cuts will 
give some idea of their differences in size, shape, and general appearance : 
DRONE. QUEEN. WORKER. 
The queen is the most important member of the colony, being the mother 
bee, and laying all the eggs from which an increase of population is derived. 
Her wings are short, her body long and tapering, and her movements peculiar. 
The drones are portly-looking^aldermanic insects, each with a jolly corpor- 
ation of his own. They are “the lazy fathers of the industrious hive.” 
They perform no work, but live a life of luxurious idleness. The workers* are 
undeveloped females ; on them all the labors of the hive depend. 
THE STAGES OF BEE-LIFE. 
As in the case of other insects, there are four separate stages in the develop- 
ment of bees, the egg state, the larva, the pupa and the imago. Three of 
these terms need explaining. Larva means grub or maggot. The pupa is 
sometimes called a chrysalis. At this stage of its life, the insect is like a bqbe 
wrapped in swaddling clothes, a thin membrane being bound around its body. 
The term imago, or image, refers to the fact that the form of the insect is now 
complete, real and apparent. Two binds of eggs are laid by the queen-bee, 
drones and workers. There are two 
# 
sizes of cells in every hive, the larger 
called drone-comb, to contain drone 
eggs; and the smaller called worker- 
comb, to receive worker eggs. The' 
instinct of the queen guides her in 
making the eggs correspond with the 
cells in which they are laid. When 
it is necessary to rear a queen, one of 
the worker cells, containing a newly laid egg, is enlarged until it resembl* 
a pea-nut in shape and size. The following out will make all this plainer t 
COMB FOUNDATION, SHOWING DRONE AND 
WORKER CELLS. 
