5 46 ARTIFICIAL PRODUCTION OF QUEENS. 
nourished, until the time when they are about to pass into 
the pupa state. The mouth of the cell is then sealed by a 
waxen cover; and the larva spins a delicate silken cocoon, 
within which it undergoes its metamorphosis. In the 
chrysalis state it remains quite inactive for some days; and 
during the latter part of this period, when it is rapidly ap¬ 
proaching the condition of the perfect Insect, its development 
is aided by the heat supplied by the “nurse-bees,” whose 
remarkable instinct has been already described (§ 411). 
716. One of the most curious features in the whole 
economy of Eees is the manner in which they manufacture 
new Queens, when from any cause (as by the intentional 
removal of her from the hive) their sovereign has been lost. 
In order to understand the process, it is necessary to be 
aware that the ordinary working-bees may be regarded as 
females, with the reproductive organs undeveloped; and it 
appears to depend on the manner in which they are treated 
in the larva state, whether the egg shall be made ultimately 
to produce a queen or a working-bee. For if, when the 
queen has been removed, the royal cells (which are usually 
among the last constructed) be not sufficiently forward, and 
contain no eggs, the bees select one or more worker-eggs or 
larvae, remove the egg or larva on either side of it, and throw 
the three cells into one. The larva thus promoted is liberally 
fed with “ royal jelly,” a pungent food prepared by the 
working-bees for the exclusive nourishment of the queen 
larvae; and in due time it comes forth a perfect queen. 
This change is doubtless owing to the peculiar effect of the 
food ; and it is remarkable that it should operate, not only in 
developing the reproductive organs, but also in altering the 
shape of her tongue, jaws, and sting, in depriving her of the 
power of producing wax, and in obliterating the hollows just 
referred-to, which would otherwise have been formed upon 
her thighs. 
Manifestations of Intelligence. 
717. The amount of reasoning power possessed by some 
among the lower animals, may be considered as very much 
upon a par with that exhibited by an intelligent child, about 
the time when it is learning to speak. One of its first exer¬ 
cises is in the connexion or association of ideas, which is the 
