1882-83-] EdinbiirgJi Naturalists' Field Chib. 6y 



to find suitable cells which have not already brood or honey in 

 them ; and she invariably puts her head into a cell before laying in 

 it. The queens are usually hatched in large cells placed vertically 

 on the edge of the comb, and it takes 17 days from the laying of 

 the egg till the queen emerges a peifect insect from the cell. A 

 drone takes 24 days, and a worker 21 days. The queen is much 

 longer in the body than the workers, has longer legs, and is pro- 

 vided with a sting, but which is seldom used except in a combat 

 with a rival queen. I have had a queen in my hand several times, 

 but never knew her attempt to sting. She never leaves the hive 

 except on her hymeneal flight, which occurs a few days after leav- 

 ing the cell, or when she leads out a swarm. The drones are the 

 males, are much larger than the workers, and have no stings ; and 

 none of these survive the winter. They begin to hatch out in 

 April or May, and are destroyed by the workers about August. 

 The workers are females, but incapable of reproduction — in fact, 

 immature queens ; for it is now considered an established truth, 

 that when a hive is by any accident deprived of its queen, a worker 

 grub, a few days old, is selected, its cell enlarged, and by giving 

 it a peculiar food it emerges a perfect queen. The workers are 

 provided with what is called a honey-sack, into which the honey 

 is drawn up from the nectary of the flowers, and ejected through 

 the tongue or proboscis into the cells. The cells containing drone 

 grubs are larger than those for worker grubs, and both kinds of 

 cells are used as receptacles for honey ; and it is clear the queen 

 must know what kind of eggs she is laying, as she does not deposit 

 a worker egg into a drone cell, or vice versa. The workers are also 

 provided with small sacks or cavities in their hind legs, which they 

 fill with pollen. The use of the antennae of Bees is a subject which 

 lias engaged the close attention and observation of many scientific 

 Bee-keepers, and especially of Sir John Lubbock ; and it seems, I 

 think, highly probable, that they are delicate and highly sensitive 

 organs of sense to which we have no strict analogy in our own 

 constitution. That they are feelers, we can have no doubt. But 

 are they not much more than this ? May not the insect through 

 them be made aware of atmospheric changes, or of vibrations in 

 the air caused by sound, or possibly may they not convey to the 

 insect a sensation resembling our sense of smell? These are 

 questions we cannot solve ; but we are quite certain they are most 

 important organs, though their exact uses we cannot define. If 

 you notice closely a worker leaving the hive, you will often see 

 that before taking flight she wipes her antennas with her fore-legs, 

 as though it were of the first importance that these organs should 

 be perfectly free from the smallest particle of dust or other extran- 

 eous matter. I have hundreds of times observed the workers do 

 this, but have not seen it remarked in any publication. 



