The Columbia evening Missourian., 1921-04-01
QUEEN BEES
l-HOURBRIDE,
THEN A WIDOW
Professor Haseman Says That
She Lives Only Two or
Three Years but Is
Always Busy.
BEES ARE COMMUNISTS
Each Member of Colony Works
Only for Good Of ALI
Self-Interest and
Gain Unknown.

a honeymoon in the ara bflue,
Sife and a widow within less than an
hours time-ihe mother Of from sixty to
eighty thousand children-from two to
three years Of life and then death-such
is the fate Of the queen bee. one OF the
busiest r,tle insects in the world, says
Leonard Hsseman. professor Of entomOlo-
gy in the College Of Agriculture.
The story Of the bee has to do with
work and romance. Flowers. blossom
sunshine and labor are necessary Tor ITS
existence. The bee, to judge from iis
hSIbils. seems to believe like Carlyle that
work is a divine thing in life.
In the honey.bee tribe there are three
jnds Of bees. the queen, worker and
arone. The queen cell in which the ie-
male bee is reared is an inch long ana
poinis in a downward direction in the
cone, the tip being about as big as .
prnpv The workers construct this CELL
When the egg matches, grub Is pro
duced, and il is fed a special iood'
know as royal Jelly. by the workers
Within FIVE days after Matching, the grub
spins It's cocoon. and the cell Is sealed
up. From this closed cell the full-grOwn
queen emerges within less than three
weeks. lust before the new queen en-
sgres. the parent queen leaves the hive
with her swarm. Within three days after
she comes forth from her cell the young
queen makes her mating fight.
The workers are the driving power OF
this colony. They act as nurse tor the
queen and the drones, build the cone,
clean house, gather nectar, pollen, pro-
polls and water and produce the wax.
During the spring Of the year, which
is their busy season, they literally work
themselves to death, says Professor Hase-
man. They are on the go constantly. Al
ter gathering stores all day. they keep
busy during the right tanning the wafer
from the nectar they have placed in the
conc. To Do the work they place them
selves at the entrance to the hive and
fan their wings. While they are tanning.
a low hum can be heard fifteen feet or
more from the hive. They are able to
produce a breeze vigorous enough to
blow out a lighted match if il were
placed within the cone.
The most wonderful power possessed
by bees is their ability to control sex at
birth When the queen lays an egg that
is to produce a drone she withholds the
sperm, and permits il to enter eggs which
are to produce workers or queens. A
lertilized egg may produce a worker or
drcne. All depends upon the kind and
amount Of food the workers feed the
grub.
The male bee, or drone, puts in its
appearance just before the swarming
time occurs. About twenty-four days af-
ter the egg is laid she drone eats its
way out Of its cell, full grown bee.
When the new queen appears from the
hive on her initial fight the drones take
wing and race for her. The first one
TO reach her is her mate. Immediately
after mating he dies and falls to the
earth, and the queen returns to her
colony. After the swarming season is
over the drones are a burden on the col
ony, so the workers kill Them.
Humanity may learn lesson from the
bees. according to Professor Haseman.
He says that self-iuterest ard gain is un-
known among them Each bee works for
the good Of the colony only, and the con-
sequence is that perfect harmony exists
among them.