QUEENS. 



358 



QUEENS. 



time the egg was laid. In seven days more, 

 fifteen or sixteen days in all from the time 

 the egg was laid, the queen will hatch out, a 

 perfect insect. C is a cell just vacated. 

 Now bear in mind exactly what we say, or 

 you will get confused. When larvaj three 

 days old are given the bees instead of eggs, 

 they will rear a queen, and, in this case, she 

 will hatch in only ten days after the larvae 



QUEEN-CELLS, AFTER CHESHIRE. 



were given the bees. These ten-day queens 

 probably are not as good as tlmse reared ^ 

 from younger larva?: and we think it well to 

 supersede them as a rule. 



There are some queer things about queen- 

 cells, as you will notice. After the cell is 

 sealed, the bees pixt a great excess of wax on 

 it, make a long tapering point, and corru- 

 gate the sides something like a thimble, as 

 shown at C, and in the enlarged view od the 

 previous page. This corrugation, or rough- 

 ness, when closely examined, will be seen 

 to be honey-comb on a very small scale. 

 Now right here is a point that you will not 

 fail to observe : Bees, like other folks, some- 

 times make mistakes; for they do not seem 

 to know any better than to use a drone- 

 larva for rearing a queen, if such happens 

 to be present. 



Now, it is very handy to be able to tell 

 nearly when any queen-cells you may hap- 

 pen to find vmexpectedly will be likely to 

 hatch ; and the bees are very accommodat- 

 ing in this respect also ; for, about the day 

 before the queen hatches, or may be two 

 days, they go and tear down this long peak 

 of wax on the tip of the cell, leaving only 

 a very thin covering, similar to tlie bottom 

 cell here shown. We don't know why unless 

 they are anxious to get a peep at their new 

 mother. It has been said, they do it that 

 she may be better able to pierce the cap- 

 ping; but sometimes they omit the proceed- 

 ing entirely, and we have not been able to see 



that she has any difficulty in cutting the cap 

 off. If the cell is built on new comb, or on 

 a sheet of foundation, and be held up 

 before a strong light at about the fifteenth 

 day, or a little later, you will see the queen 

 moving about in the cell. Afterward, 

 by listening carefully, you can hear her 

 gnawing her way out. Pretty soon the 

 points of her sharp and powerful mandibles 

 will be seen protruding, as she bites out a 

 narrow line. Since she turns her body in a 

 circle while doing this, she cuts out a cir- 

 cle so true that it often looks as if marked 

 by a pair of compasses. Now observe that 

 the substance of which the cell is made is 

 tough and leathery, and, therefore, before 

 she gets clear around her circle, the piece 

 springs out in response to her pushing, and 

 opens just about as the lid of a coffee-pot 

 would if a kitten should happen to be inside 

 crowding against the lid. We have often seen 

 them push the door open and look out, with 

 as much ai)parent curiosity as a child exhib- 

 its when it first creeps to the door on a sum- 

 mer morning : often, after taking this look, 

 they will back down into their cradle, and 

 stay some time. This is especially the case 

 when other queens are hatching, and there 

 is a strife as to who shall be sovereign. 



We will now consider the strange substance 

 royal jelly. 



The milky food before described, which 

 is given to the young larvae, and which is 

 supposed to be a mixture of pollen and 

 honey partially digested, is very similar, if 

 not identical, in composition with the royal 

 jelly. Bees are not the only examples in 

 the animal kingdom where the food is taken 

 into the stomach by the parent, and, after 

 partial digestion regurgitated for the use 

 of the offspring. Pigeons feed their young 

 precisely in this way until they are able 

 to digest their food for themselves. It has 

 been stated that bees use a coarser food 

 for the worker larvae, after they are a 

 few days old. and also for the drone 

 larvae during the whole of their larval 

 state. What we mean by " coarser food" 

 is, a food not so perfectly digested ; in 

 fact, drones are said to be fed on a mix- 

 ture of pollen and honey, in a state nearly 

 natural. This may be so, but we have no 

 means of proving it to our satisfaction. It 

 has also been said, that queens receive the 

 very finest, most perfectly digested, and 

 concentrated food that they can prepare. 

 This we can readily believe, for the royal 

 jelly has a very rich taste— something be- 

 \ tween cream, quince jelly, and honey— with 



