320 
BEE. 
“ Wilhelmi observes, that a queen cell, which 
is made while the bees are shut up, is formed by 
breaking down three common cells into one, 
when the maggot is placed in the centre, after 
which the sides are repaired. 
“ A young queen lately hatched was put into a 
hive, which had been previously ascertained to 
contain no drones, and whose queen was removed; 
and yet the young queen laid eggs*. In repeating 
Mr. Schirach’s experiment, he shut up four pieces 
of comb, with one maggot in each; after two days 
the maggots were all dead, and the bees had de- 
sisted from labour f. 
“ A piece of comb, from which all the eggs and 
maggots had been removed, was shut up with 
some honey, and a certain number of workers; 
in a short time they became very busy, and upon 
the evening of the second day 300 eggs were 
found in the cells J. He repeated this experi- 
ment with the same result, and the bees were left 
to themselves: they placed queen maggots in the 
queen cells, newly constructed, and others in male 
cells: the rest were left undisturbed. He again 
“ It would appear that a maggot three days old was of the 
best age for tliis experiment, yet one should have conceived that 
a maggot two days old would soon be fit.” 
* “ There is no mystery in this; but did they hatch?” 
t “ This is the most probable event in the whole experi- 
ments.” 
X “ This would show that labourers can be changed into 
queens at will, and that neither they nor their eggs require to be 
impregnated; if this was the case, there would be uo occasiott 
for all the push in making a queen or a male.” 
