. Manual of the apiary. Bees. 16 MANUAL OF THE APIARY. that only once, it might be asked why nature was so improvident as to decree hundreds of drones to an ajiiary or colony, whereas a score would suflSce as well. Yet nature takes cognizance of the importance of the queen, and as she goes forth amidst the myriad dangers of the outer world, it is safest and best that her stay abroad be not protracted; hence the superabundance of drones, âespecially under natural conditions, isolated in forest homes, where ravenous birds are ever on the alert for insect game,âis most wise and provident. Arti- f
. Manual of the apiary. Bees. 16 MANUAL OF THE APIARY. that only once, it might be asked why nature was so improvident as to decree hundreds of drones to an ajiiary or colony, whereas a score would suflSce as well. Yet nature takes cognizance of the importance of the queen, and as she goes forth amidst the myriad dangers of the outer world, it is safest and best that her stay abroad be not protracted; hence the superabundance of drones, âespecially under natural conditions, isolated in forest homes, where ravenous birds are ever on the alert for insect game,âis most wise and provident. Arti- ficial circumstances require no such conditions, nor are they then enforced. THE QUEEN. The queen (Fig. 7) is the true mother bee, or in other words a perfectly developed female, with large, full-formed ovaries, which occu- py the larger part of her abdomen. These organs (Pig. 8), one on either side of the back, are multitubular, each consisting of many tubes (Fig. 8, a a), in which grow the eggs, for the eggs of all animals are a growth, not a secretion. From each â ovary leads a special duct (b, Fig. 8), which ducts finally unite into the common oviduct (c, Fig. 8), through which all the eggs pass. By the FlO. Fia. 8. side of this oviduct is a little pea-shaped sock {e, Pig. 8), called the sperma- theca, which, during copulation or mating, is filled with the seminal or male fluid. About this sock are voluntary muscles, so that the queen can bring the fluid, if she desires, in contact with the eggs as they pass. This, of course, is the most important structural peculiarity of the queen, as this makes her a female, but she has other differences worthy of mention: she is longer than either drone or worker, being over seven-eighths of an inch long, and with her long, tapering abdomen is not without real grace and beauty. The queen's tongue (Pig. 9) is short, her jaws weak, eyes like the neuter's, wings short hardly more than half the length of the abdomen. She has no pollen
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Keywords: ., bo, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1870, booksubjectbees, bookyear1876
