268 NORTH AMERICAN INSECTS. 
one bee for any length of time, for it soon escapes the eye 
and is lost among the crowd, until it seems as if all were 
in the greatest confusion and disorder. This, however, may 
be partially avoided by marking one or more bees upon the 
neck with a solution of sealing-wax in alcohol. 
3d. Tur LAYING oF Eaas.—The Queen Bee resides in the 
interior of the hive, between two combs, and has no other 
business than to deposit an egg in each empty cell, which 
is done very quickly, and principally during the months of 
April and May. The egg is oblong, white, and fastened at 
one end to the bottom of the cell. During the season of 
laying the eggs the bees work with indefatigable industry 
in order to furnish the necessary number of cells; and so fast 
do they accomplish their task that a comb nine inches long 
is often built in one day, and yet, notwithstanding this ra- 
pidity, the queen is often obliged to deposit her eggs in half- 
finished cells. When thus occupied in discharging the grand 
function of her life, she marches with great dignity, always 
accompanied by a dozen or more of her subjects, like the 
Virgin Queen with her courtiers. 
We may form some estimate of the enormous number of 
eggs which the queen lays, from the size of a swarm which 
leaves the parental roof in May or June. Such a swarm 
will number about twelve thousand, and the eggs from 
which they came were laid in the preceding months of 
March or April; but still the queen continues laying, and 
we may obtain one or two more swarms from the same hive 
during the summer. Each queen lays a few eggs from which 
proceed queens, and from seven hundred to a thousand eggs 
from which proceed drones, while all the rest will produce 
working bees. 
4th. DEVELOPMENT OF THE Eaa.—The egg is fastened by 
one end to the bottom of the cell, so that it looks as if it 
were suspended in the air. .It is soft and smooth, and is 
five times as long as it is thick. It was formerly believed 
