Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 02.djvu/765

BEE. joints or rings, and under the scaly coverings of the four middle ones are situated the tvaic- nockcts, or organs for the secretion of wax. The extremity of the abdomen is provided with a sting which is straight. The basal joint of the hind tarsi is dilated to form a pollen-basket, and the legs are well provided with hairs for collect- ing the pollen and brushing it into this recep- tacle.

The males, or drones, so called from the peculiar noise which they make in their flight, are much larger than the workers, and tliicker in proportion. The antennae have an additional joint. The eyes are remarkably large, and meet upon the crown.

The perfect females, or queen-mothers, are con- siderably longer than either the workers or the males; they are also distinguished by the yel- low tint of the under part of the body, and differ from all the other inmates of the hive in the shortness of their wings, which, instead of reach- ing to the extremity of the abdomen, leave some of its rings uncovered. Xeither males nor queens have wax-pockets, nor have they pollen-baskets. Their legs also are less hairy. The sting of the queen bee is curved. Tlie mandibles both of the males and perfect females are notched or toothed beneath the tip, while those of the workers are not. There are two rival theories for explain- ing the origin of the ditl'erent kinds of bees in a colony. Dzierzon maintains that fertilized queens can lay fertilized or unfertilized eggs at will, the former in queen-cells and worker-cells, the latter in drone-cells. Dickel contends, on the contrary, that by a variation in the food the workers can produce at will queens, drones, or workers out of indifferent eggs or larvie. The greater part of the life of the queen or mother bee is spent in laying eggs for the in- crease of the population of the hive; and tliis increase goes on at a rapid rate, as the queen not unfrequently lays 3000 eggs in a day. The number, however, varies greatly. In cold weath- er it is very small, but the invariable presence of brood in different stages, in a well-stocked hive, proves that some eggs are laid even in winter. During the later spring months the mmiber is very great; many practical apiarians considering that as many as 3000, or even 4000, are deposited daily. The community, however, is not destined to an indefinite increase; but iii certain circumstances, sirurininr/ takes place, and new colonies are founded.

The impregnation of the queen takes place in the air, and usually within a few days after she has emerged from the cell. It is the only occasion of her ever leaving the hive, except that of swarming. The question has therefore been asked, why there are so many males in a Ijee eonununity : but no very satisfactory answer has been given to it. The males are not knoii to fulfill any other purpose than that of the propagation of their species ; and after the swarming season is over, the greater part of them are ruthlessly massacred by the workers, as if in dread of their consuming too much of the common store. The greater part of the work- ers themselves are supposed to live for from one to nine months; the duration of the life of the queen bees is rarely more than three years. An eloquent and picturesque narrative of the nuptial flight of the queen bee has been given by Maurice Maeterlinck in his book. The Life of the Bee, from which the following is quoted, some- what condensed:

"Around the virgin queen, and dwelling with her in the hive, are hundreds of exuberant males, forever drunk on honey ; the sole reason for their e.xistence being one act of love. But . . . the union never takes place in the hive, nor has it been possible to bring about the impregnation of a captive queen. While she lives in their midst the lovers about lier never know what she is. Kach day, from noon until three, when the sun shines resplendent, this plumed horde sallies forth in search of the bride, who is indeed more roj'al, more diftieult of conquest, than the most inaccessible princess of fairy legend; for twenty or thirty tribes will hasten from all the neigh- boring cities, her court thus consisting of more than 10,000 suitors, and from these 10,000 one alone will be chosen. However great her impa- tience, she will yet choose her daj- and her hour, and linger in the shadow of the portal till a marvelous morning fling wide open the nuptial spaces in the depths of the great azure vault. . . . Then she appears on the threshold. . . . She starts to fly backward ; returns twice or thrice to the alighting-board; and then, having definitely fixed in her mind the e.xact situation and aspect of the kingdom she has never yet seen from without, she departs like an arrow to the zenith of the blue. She soars to a height, a luminous zone, that other bees attain at no period of their life. Far away, caressing their idleness in the midst of the flowers, the males have beheld the apparition. . . . Immediately crowds collect, and follow her into the sea of gladness, whose limpid boundaries ever recede. She, drunk with her rovings, obeying the mag- nificent law of the race that chooses her lover, and enacts that the strongest alone shall attain her in the solitude of the ether, she rises still. . . . A region must be foiuid unlmunted by birds, that else might profane the mystery. She rises still; and already tlie ill-assorted troop below are dwindling and falling asunder. The feeble, infirm, the aged, unwelcome, ill-fed, who have flown from inactive or impoverished cities, these renounce the pursuit and disappear in the void. Only a small, indefatigable cluster re- main, suspended in infinite opal. She summons her wings for one final efl'ort; and now the chosen of incomprehensible forces has seized her, and bounding aloft with united impetus, the as- cending spiral of their intertwined flight whirls for one second in the hostile madness of love."

No sooner has the union been accomplished than the male's abdomen opens, the organ de- taches itself, dragging with it a mass of en- trails, and the emptied body falls dead toward the earth. This extraordinary flight and its tragedy seem to be Xature's effort to secure cross-fertilization, and at the same time a selec- tion of the best available mates. To the queen mother of the hive is given a power of flight that only the strongest males can equal; nor does either of them seem much inclined to copulate until their air-tubes are distended with air and until under the excitement of extreme exertion. Hence, the lofty flight is necessary, and the best one of all the males alone can overtake the fleeing queen. After impregnation, the queen returns to her hive, is cleaned and cared for by the workers, and thenceforth da-