Honey Bees
Bees are flying insects closely related to wasps and ants. Honey bees (or honeybees) are a subset of bees, primarily distinguished by the production and storage of honey and the construction of perennial, colonial nests out of wax. A colony generally contains one queen bee, a fertile female; seasonally up to a few thousand drone bees or fertile males; and a large seasonally variable population of sterile female worker bees. Eggs are laid singly in a cell in a wax honeycomb, produced and shaped by the worker bees. Larvae are initially fed with royal jelly produced by worker bees, later switching to honey and pollen.
Galleries
Hymenoptera: Ants Bees and WaspsSource
Winchell, Alexander Sketches of Creation (New York, NY: Harper & Brothers, 1870)
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