[The accompanying illustration exhibits these three kinds of bees,
namely, the Queen, the Drone, and the Worker, together with the cells
which they respectively inhabit. Fig. 1 shows the queen-bee as she
appears when in command of a hive. When she first issues from the
royal cell, she is much smaller in the body, and an inexperienced
observer might have some difficulty in distinguishing her from an
ordinary worker. But any one who has been accustomed to bees can pick
her out as soon as his eyes rest upon her. Her body is rather larger
and narrower than those of the workers, and the wings are shorter in
proportion, slightly crossing at the tips when she is at rest. Fig. 2
represents the common worker-bee, which, as has already been mentioned,
is simply an undeveloped female. Fig. 3 is the male or drone-bee, which
is easily distinguishable, even by a novice. He is larger, stouter,
and heavier built than the female; his eyes are so enormous that they
seem to occupy nearly the entire head, and he has some well-defined
tufts of hair on the end of the abdomen. He can even be detected by
the ear, as he flies, the deep droning hum being quite unlike the
fussy, business-like sound produced by the worker. Fig. 4 represents
one of the royal cells, a little reduced in size. In making this cell,
the bees lose sight of their habitual economy of wax, and use enough
material for fifty ordinary cells. It is probable that the great size
of the cell enables the inclosed insect to expand, and so to be capable
of becoming the mother as well as the ruler of her subjects. The royal
cell is always placed at the edge of a comb, so as not to interfere
with the other cells, which contain honey, bee-bread, and grubs; and
in each hive there are generally several of these cells in different
stages of structure. Figs. 5 and 6 represent the proportionate sizes of
the cells which contain the drone and worker bees.]
* * * * *
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