The Highland weekly news. [volume] (Hillsborough [Hillsboro], Highland County, Ohio) 1853-1886, 1883-12-12

BY C.. o. COLLINS
NO. S.
THE WORKER BEE.

Is the worker or undeyeloped female.
Some writer's on bee culture call
them "neuters," this would convey
the impression that they were neither
male or female. This would be er-
roneous, for as far as the possession
Of the female organs are concerned,
she is as much female as the queen.
They have the ovaries, the oviduct,
and the spermatheca, but they are
so imperfectly developed that they
are rendered incapable Of being inn
pregnated and of laying eggs. There
are, however, exceptions to this rule,
for there are rare instances Of what
are called fertile workers being found
in queenless colonies, that lay eggs,
but their eggs whether laid in drone
cells or worker cells invariably pro-
duce drones. A colony having a
fertile worker would soon perish
unless supplied with a fertile queen,
This class of bees are most appro-
priately called "workers," for during
the working season their life is one
Of incessant toll from "early morn
to dewy eve." They are constantly on
the wing or engaged in the domestic
duties of the hive. They cleanse
the interior of their dwelling by re-
moving all impurities, they close
with propolis the cracks or crevices
which might harbor worms or moth,
or allow the escape Of heat from
within, they seCrete wax, build comb,
nurse the brood, guard the hive,
gather honey, pollen, prOpOlis and
water, and everything needed in the
economy or essential to the prosper
ity Of the colony. The workers are
reared in the small or worker cells.
These cells are about one-half inch
deep and about one-sixth of an inch
in diameter and number about thirty
six to the square inch. The eggs
are laid in the cells by the queen
and are attached to the bottom by a
glutenons substance with which they
are coated. They hatch out in from
forty to sixty hours after being laid,
the length of time depending upon
the temperature maintained in the
hive. The larvae lie in the bottom
Of the cell in a curved form and are
Immediately fed by the workers with
pollen mixed with honey and water.
This food is easily digested and is so
perfectly assimilated that no execre-
ment aCCumulates in the intestinal
canal. The larvae grow rapidly and
in six days attain such size as to be
no longer able to lie in curved
form in the bottom of the cell and
now stretch themselves out length
wise. As soon as this occurs the
workers close the mouth of the cell
with a waXen cap or cover, perform
ing the work with great celebrity.
Eight days elapse from the time the
egg is laid until the cell is capped.
On the ninth day the larvae is fully
stretched out, and then begins to
coat over the interior surface of the
cell with a whitish gummy liquid
which soon dries and becomes
glossy They first gum over the
under side Of the cap cover; then
Curving back the anterior portion of
her body she gums the upper half Of
the cell from front to rear. In this
operation her body becomes much
elongated and attennuated and when
she reaches the rear Of the cell her
head and tail are both at the bottom
of her waXen prison while the cen
tral part Of her body touches the cap.
1t is only by thus elongating her
self that she is able to turn around
in her narrow cell. She now pro-
Ceeds to gum the under side or lower
half of her cell. When she reaches
the front again she lays stretched at
full length with her month down
ward ready to undergo transforma.
tiOn to a nymph or chrysalis. Be
tween, the tenth and eleventh days the
mandibles make their appearance,
on the twelfth day the head and
thOraX begin to appear. At the close
of the thirteenth day the insection
between the thorax and the abdomen
is perfectly formed, the legs, wings,
antenne and probosis now begin to
appear, and on the fifteenth day they
are complete, though the wings are
still small and lie on the thorax in the
direction Of the first pair of legs and
are barely percepUable. In this stage
of its advance the insect is very soft
and perfectly white. On the six
teuth day the several parts have be.
came fully developed; the eyes be-
gin to assume a broWnish hue, and
the prObOsCis lies extended under
the thoraX. On the seventeenth day
the eyes become black and the
wings are almost fully unfolded. Or
the ninteenth day the insect is in al
respects fully developed, though its
color is still somewhat grayish. Or
the twenty-frst day the bee is ma
tnred, its limbs have become firm
and the bOdyhas assumed a brownisi
hue, the nymph envelope has beer
stripped off and lies at the bottom o
the cell, as a pellet about the size o
a pin head.
Thus in the process Of transforma
tion the anterior portion Of the body
seems to grow out Of the chrysalis
because the nymphial envelope re-