The Nome nugget., 1938-05-21

Prepared by National Geographic Society. Washington. D. C-WNU Service.
 ' TITLE does the average l. layman know of the ac- tive life of the honey bee which in summer is conspic- uous flying from flower to flower, bearing pollen that plants may blossom and bear fruit in season.
 The young queen bee, a few 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 be- cause 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 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 en- gage in outside work and is not sub ject to the hazards of weather and enemies that might prey pon her. the queen may live to the ripe old age of three or four years. When she becomes too old. or when she can no longer produce queen and
 
 cidentally 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 be- havior is even more pronounced. The worker bee is armed with a straight sting, the end of which is barbed like 2 harpoon. When a worker bee stings, it cannot disen- gage it's sting. The violent effort of tearing itself loose from the we'll anchored sting so severely damages the tissue of it's body that it dies within a few minutes. Normally it can sting only once.
 When Rival Queens Battle.
 The sting of the queen, instead of being straight and barbed, is smooth and curved It is construct ed so that it can easily be with drawn when she uses 1t. The queen seemingly does not realize that she possesses this very effective weap- on. She may be picked up and handled as harnllesSly as a kitten.
 If the queen gets into the wrong hive in returning from her mating flight, a royal battle is sure to en- sue, and the two queens fight it out until death comes to the weaker.
 If the queen used her sting indis- criminately, 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 jeopar- dize 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, who far outnumber her and whose sacrifice is not so fatal to the we'll being of the colony.
 The drone usually is regarded as lazy individual, but, after all, he is the father and is entitled to cer. tain respect. He gathers no food, nor does he help defend the family; he has no tools to collect sweets nor has he a sting to defend even him. self. During his brief existence. however, he has certain privileges not accorded his sisters. He can safely visit neighboring colonies, Neither workers nor queens are ac.