Show ha P i ei f A e ro n gee 14 IN arx lo 10 am 1 0 A 01 10 how germans protect bee aives how the honey bee lives and performs his very import prepared by national geographic society eton D C service ITTLE does the average L LITTLE layman know of the active life of the honey bee which in summer is conspicuous flying from flower to flower bearing pollen that plants may blossom and bear fruit in season the young queen bee a fe few w days after leaving the hive in which she has been born selects a day for her wedding flight she usually chooses a clear warm quiet day because her honeymoon is short and she must make the most of it only when she leaves the hive with a swarm probably a year hence will she have another occasion to fly mating always takes place on the wing and if conditions are such that the queen cannot fly she will die a virgin the strongest drone is her mate for the queen is a good flyer and the weak are thus eliminated in this wise provision to maintain the strength and vigor of the race before the queen has had time to return to the hive after the mating flight the drone will have fallen to the earth dead because of her specialized duties and the fact that she does not engage in outside work and is not subject to the hazards of weather and enemies that might prey upon her the queen may live to the ripe old age of three or four years wh when e n she becomes too old or when she can no longer produce queen and worker bees or if she becomes accidentally ci crippled the bees will raise another queen to replace her and for a while both mother and daughter may work side by side in the hive but this arrangement does not last long the old queen will shortly disappear the marked differences between the queen and worker bee both of whom come from the same kind of fertilized egg have already been mentioned their difference in behavior is even more pronounced the worker bee is armed with a straight sting the end of which is barbed like a harpoon when a worker bee stings it cannot disengage its sting the violent effort of tearing itself loose from the well anchored sting so severely damages the tissue of its body that it dies within a few minutes when rival queens battle the sting of the queen instead of being straight and barbed is smooth and curved it is constructed so that it can easily be withdrawn when she uses it the queen seemingly does not realize that she possesses this very effective weapon she may be picked up and handled as harmlessly as a kitten if the queen gets into the wrong hive in returning from her mating matina 0 flight a royal battle is sure to e ensue n and the two queens fight it out until death comes to the weaker it if the queen used her sting indiscriminately crim ly she might easily lose her life in meeting an enemy with which she could not cope if she were being handled by her keeper and attempted to free herself by stinging him he might instinctively retaliate by crushing her frail body should he do so it would jeopardize the future life of the colony especially if there were no larvae in the hive from which a successor could be raised for her protection therefore she depends upon her own daughters or sister workers vy the drone usually usually a lazy individual iu but is s the father ak and is entin tarn tain respect H he e gath nor does he help des 34 he has no tools to toab collm hasi has he a sting to defend de 46 4 self during his hi brid bria however he has certa cert not accorded his sister his sis t neither safely visit neighbor neighbor j it workers nor Z c t cepter in other hives to k R breed breeding ing season dros lowed to corne come and go ask as know one another lj the person who card CM nd names and faces 0 1 dred acquaintances is is yd in a family famil yol of b bee instantly i member it 1 is evid evident i tali i is not through he et a ss sight i gg hh tt instead stead it is tell electta more highly cevelo developed sa smell every colony hass ha a dalai family odor dif ferial from acl every other colony RA baste bee attempts to ata i tia 1 guards at the att isget alien odor and E a colony is divided into parts placed in n separately sepa separate timm given queens that art an em bees in each half deveke odors within a weeks a become total strangers is to s er were the halves halve surl the bees would disregard ence of any relationship if it becomes becomes hect 1 a new queen in a cow that she be deuced the old queen 9 lit at least an hour before b comer is arese prese presented E berval the colony dis discola di scova is and it inay I 1 strutting ting new queen cells cell even though the colon queenia que queen enit it WO would uld not do ta her it ap because the usurper r odor would I 1 endanger her lif life e she 11 tte lei a wire cage to p prote her er gel althou although would kill her were released they feed bew her by their tongues t through rough of the wire must store food for honeybees help pa till satiable their in ff race by anu unu bo nectar gather hornets yellow ja jacke e a cannot noe ve honeybees store mouth they M er b food colony during alive auve the though thre sum Oot tv colony the a four I 1 ther ter of the alv mentioned all a the I 1 0 OPP t each colony die 9 winter vinter excel except w yo cra cra and t chesem S P quee queens ere prote protected e pla es atos T ell curing aring na nate tp quire no food on A among honeybees hj fall IV irones drones die in the live an do 1 1 I an and I 1 the workers worker t t active y throughout ther ore to import a nt t e d uri enough food or the t maintain t jar insect arivs act when tes of at the end t which cone les k son S sessom of ahe the breeding fe eggson s j and lays when ES E fewer the S 9 co of ld 00 IV 0 ceases 11 ra 01 olony overtaken ss change the c 5 3 tuo I 1 imposing with sst low e le 0 to cope eyb it 0 dividu 11 s s t res w 41 te per 0 se i in fact t they e as ger er per tur ell re I 1 grees eeg rani |