Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume II.djvu/473

 BEE 453 inch deep and one third of an inch wide ; during their construction the queen lays the eggs of workers, and when they are finished she deposits a single egg in each at one or two days' interval, worker eggs being laid in this interval. When the eggs are laid the workers supply the cells with the pollen of flowers for the food of the larvae ; the pollen is mixed with honey and water, and partly digested in the stomachs of the nursing bees, and dis- tributed of different qualities according to the age of the young. The eggs are of a bluish white color, of a lengthened oval shape, slightly curved; in a proper temperature they are hatched in three days; the larvse are small white worms without feet. The workers re- main five days in this state, the males six and a half, and the females five ; at the end of this time the mouth of the cell is closed by a mix- ture of wax and propolis, and the larvee begin to spin a silken envelope, or cocoon, which is completed in 36 hours ; in three days more the larva changes into a pupa or chrysalis, and on the 20th day it emerges from its prison a per- fect worker ; the males come forth on the 24th day. The color of the bee just out of its cell is a light gray ; it requires two days to acquire strength for flying, during which it is caressed and plentifully fed by the nurses. The same cell may bring several workers to maturity ; when the insect comes out the cell is cleaned, the web being left to strengthen the sides. The royal cells are never used but once, being de- stroyed when the queen escapes. The eggs and larvae of the royal family do not differ in appearance from those of the workers ; but the young are more carefully nursed, and fed to repletion with a more stimulating kind of food, which causes them to grow so rapidly that in five days the larva is prepared to spin its web, and on the 16th day becomes a perfect queen. But, as only one queen can reign in the hive, the young ones are kept close prisoners, and carefully guarded against the attacks of the queen mother, as long as there is any prospect of her leading another swarm from the hive ; if a new swarm is not to be sent off, the work- ers allow the approach of the old queen to the royal cells, and she immediately commences the destruction of the royal brood by stinging them, one after the other, while they remain in the cells. Huber observes that the cocoons of the royal larvm are open behind, and he be- lieves this to be a provision of nature to enable the queen to destroy the young, which in the ordinary cocoon would be safe against her sting. When the old queen departs with a swarm, a young one is liberated, who imme- diately seeks the destruction of her sisters, but is prevented by the guards ; if she departs with another swarm, a second queen is liberated, and si) on, until further swarming is impossible from the diminution of the numbers or the coldness of the weather ; then the reigning queen is allowed to kill all her sisters. If two queens should happen to come out at the same time, they instantly commence a mortal com- bat, and the survivor is recognized as the sove- reign ; the other bees favor the battle, form a ring, and excite the combatants, exactly as in a human prize fight. The male bees or drones may be known by the thicker body, more flat- tened shape, round head, more obtuse abdo- men containing the male generative organs, the absence of the sting, and the humming noiso of their flight ; they produce neither wax nor honey, being idle spectators of the labors of the workers, who support them ; they comprise about ^V or -fa of the whole number of a hivo in the spring when they are most numerous ; their use is only to impregnate the females, and, secondarily, to supply food to the swallows and carnivorous insects which prey upon them when they take their midday flights. When the queens are impregnated, and the swarming has ceased, the workers, in July or August, commence an indiscriminate attack upon the drones, chasing them into the bottom and cor- ners of the hive, killing them with their stings, and casting out the dead bodies ; this destruc- tion extends even to the eggs and larvaa of males. If a hive is without a queen, the males are allowed to survive the winter. The work- ing bees are the smallest, with a lengthened proboscis, the basket conformation of the pos- terior pair of legs, and the apparent absence of generative organs. They have been divided by Huber into nurses and wax-workers ; the former are the smallest and weakest, ill adapt- ed for carrying burdens, and their business is to collect the honey, feed and take care of the grubs, complete the cells commenced by the others, and to keep the hive clean ; the latter take the charge of provisioning the hive, col- lecting honey, secreting and preparing wax, constructing the cells, defending the hive from attack, attending to the wants of the queen, and carrying on all the hostilities of the com- munity. The number of the workers is from 5,000 or 10,000 to 50,000, according to the size of the hive ; they form about f$ of the whole ; they are armed with a sting, and are easily ex- cited to use it. They are sometimes called neu- ters, as if they were of neither sex ; bnt it is now established, by the discovery in them on minute dissection of rudiments of ovaries, that the larvfe of the workers and of the females do not differ ; that the queens lay only two kinds of eggs, one destined to produce males, and the other capable of being converted, ac- cording to circumstances, into workers or queens ; in other words, that the workers are females, in which the generative organs are not developed. On the loss of the queen the hive is thrown into the greatest confusion; the bees rush from the hive, and seek the queen in all directions ; after some hours all becomes quiet again, and the labors are resum- ed. If there be no eggs nor brood in the combs, the bees seem to lose their faculties; they cease to labor and to collect food, and tho whole community soon dies. But, if there be