THE APIARY. 



323 



Fig 

 a, tongue, or ligula; b, labial palpi; cl, paraglossas. 



comb, exteud either vertically or diagonally downward, and mucli resemble a 

 thimble or a pea-nut in form and size. The eggs are placed in these cells, 

 either by the worker bees, which transfer them from worker cells, or else by the 

 queen. Some apiarists doubt that the queen ever places an egg in a queen cell, 

 but I have no doubt of the fact, though I never witnessed the act. I have fre- 

 quently seen the eggs in these cells in exactly the position which the queen 

 always places her eggs. I^or have I much respect for the arguments which are 

 built on an inferred discord between the queen and neuters. I believe there is a 

 better understanding between the inmates of the hive than is generally believed 

 by apiarists. It is probably true that the actions of the bees are iniiuenced and 

 controlled by circumstances or conditions, but I have yet to see satisfactory 

 proof that these conditions differently impress the queen and workers. The 

 conditions which usually lead to the building of queen cells and the peopling of 

 the same, are loss of queen, inability of queen to lay fertile eggs, and too great 

 numbers of bees, or too little room in the hive, which is likely to be true in times 

 of great honey secretion. The queen may be developed from an egg or from a 

 worker larva less than three days old, which will then be transferred from a 

 worker to a queen cell. The development of the queen is much the same as 

 that of a worker, though she is fed richer and more plenteous food, called royal 

 jelly. So abundant is this royal pabulum that there is always some remaining 

 in the cell after the queen issues. It is probable that the more profuse and 

 sumptuous diet, perhaps aided by a more ample halntatiou, is what accelerates 

 and perfects the development of her royal highness. Yet the fact of fertile 

 workers, and the easy probability of their having received a little richer and more 

 plenteous diet than their sisters, would lead us to supj^ose that the food, both as 

 to quality and quantity, is what had most influence. The cocoon surrounding 

 the queen nymph or pupa is imperfect next the outer end of the cell. It has 

 been supposed by some that this was an act of thoughtf ulness on the part of the 

 queen larva, thus to render her own destruction more easy, should the welfare 

 of the colony demand it. In sixteen days from the laying of the egg, or from 



