NATDEAL HISTORY OF THE HONEY-BES. 
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CHAPTER III. 
THE QUEEN, OR MOTHER-BEE ; THE DRONES ; THE WORKERS ; 
PACTS IN THEIR NATURAL HISTORY. 
Honey-Bees can flourish only when associated in large 
numbers, as in a colony. In a solitary state, a single bee 
is almost as helpless as a new-born child, being paralyzed 
by the chill of a cool Summer night. 
If a strong colony preparing to swarm is examined, 
three kinds of bees will be found in the hive. 
1st, One bee of peculiar shape, commonly called the 
Queen-Bee. 
2(1, Some hundreds and often thousands of large bees, 
called Drones. 
3d, Many thousands of a smaller kind, ealled Workers, 
or common bees, such as are seen on the blossoms. Many 
of the cells will be found to eontain honey and bee- 
bread ; and vast numbers of eggs and immature woi'kers 
and drones. A few cells of unusual size are devoted to 
the roaring of young queens. On Plate XH., the queen, 
drone, and worker are reiiresented as magnified, and also 
of the natural size. 
The queen-bee is the only perfect female in the hive, 
and all the eggs are laid by her. The drones are the 
mules, and the workers, females whose ovaries, or “ egg- 
bags,” are so imperfectly developed that they are incapa¬ 
ble of breeding; and which retain the instinct of females, 
only so fiir as to take care of the brood. 
These facts have been demonstrated so repeatedly, that 
they are as well established as the most common laws in 
the breeding of our domestic animals. The knowledge 
