CH. III.] 



THE HIVE BEE. 



57 



Fig.l. Closed royal cell. 



2. Another varied in shape. 



3. Two cells just commenced ; their apertures are here drawn 

 looking upwards, to show their cavity. This position is the 

 reverse of the natural one. 



One of the most astonishing facts connected with 

 the economy of bees, is the manner in which, when 

 deprived of their queen, they proceed to repair their 

 loss : for this purpose they construct several of 

 these royal cells, and taking- a common worker- 

 worm out of the ordinary cells, they put it into a 

 royal one, feed the insect with royal food, which is 

 more pungent than that destined for worker grubs, 

 and in a few days, instead of a worker, they have a 

 queen. This extraordinary discovery, made by 

 Schirach, has been confirmed by Huber, and is now 

 admitted by all naturalists. In many parts of Ger- 

 many, and more especially in Lusatia and Saxony, 

 the peasants, availing themselves of this discovery, 

 are enabled to multiply their swarms of bees at 

 pleasure ; they shut up a few hundred working bees 



