LIBRARY

HYMENOPTERA 717
CASTES
Queen - fertile female, mother of colony, which arises from fertile eggs and
larvre furnished with special food known as royal jelly; has sting which is used
only to kill rival queens.
Workers - abortive or neuter females which arise from fertile eggs; homemakers
of the colony; sting used in defense of the colony.
Drones - sexual males, which arise from unfertilized eggs; mate with
queens; have no sting.
COMB
The comb consists of two layers of six-sided cells constructed of wax, back to
back, and slanting towards the middle partition. The wax is obtained from
special glands on the undersides of the abdomen and is masticated and mixed
with cephalic gland fluids. It is necessary for the workers to consume 20 pounds
of honey to produce a pound of wax. Propolis, a brownish resinous cement collected
most abundantly in late summer and fall from buds and trees, is used on
rough surfaces, small cracks in the hive, and on portions of the comb.
Honey comb - the cells which are used for storage of honey, usually around
the top and sides of the comb. They are capped with wax.
Brood comb - cells which occupy the lower and central portions and consist
of the following kinds:
(1) Worker - cells similar in size to those used for the storage of honey, contai.ning
various stages from the fertilized egg to emerging adult. The mature
larvre spin a thin parchment-like cocoon within the cells where pupation takes
place.
(2) Queen - very large irregularly shaped cells somewhat resembling a small
peanut in shape and size and with the opening downward. The number of queen
cells in the brood comb depends upon the season, the race, and the necessity for
the same.
(3) Drone - cells similar in shape, of the same size or larger in diameter than
the worker cells and somewhat longer. Larvre hatch from unfertilized eggs.
FOOD
The worker larva: are first fed on certain fluids from the mouths of the nurse
workers and later on a mixture of honey and pollen and on water. The larvre
destined to become queens are given throughout the larval period a thin highly
specialized type of food not furnished the others, except during the first 2 or
3 days.
Honey - nectar gathered from plants and elaborated in the honey sac of .
the workers. It is also made from the honeydew of insects. It is mixed with a
small percentage of pollen and is stored as food for the adults, to be used chiefly
during the winter or in time of need.
Bee bread - pollen gathered from the flowers of plants mixed with a little
honey. Xt is used for feeding the young.