3S BEEO. 



ver}' centre, without exciting confusion in the group. Tijo 

 strength of the topmost hees is here shown even more 

 strikingly than in the formation of the ladder ; the bees at 

 the top have, in these moveable clusters, nothing to take 

 hold of to enable them to support the weight of their com- 

 rades, and appear to need nothing. Possibly, as Mr. Wild- 

 man supposes, they may possess some power of distension, 

 and so, like fishes, buoy themselves up. Although the 

 strength of insects is surprising when contrasted with the 

 comparative strength of the larger animals, I am inclined 

 to think that muscular strength has little to do with the 

 power of the bees to sustain a great weight by their claws. 

 The shape of the claws is such that if a dead bee is taken, 

 and its feet placed in the proper position, it will hold up not 

 only its own weight, but that of several other bees added to 

 it. Of course by its muscular power it can so arrange the 

 claws as to enable it to sustain the greatest amount of 

 weight compatible with the integrity of the claw ; but 

 when its feet are once fixed, the bee displays its strength 

 not so much in retaining its hold, but by its power of 

 releasing itself at will. Most people have felt the struggles 

 of a cockchafer to get loose from the entanglements in 

 which it has involved itself by flying heedlessly against 

 unwary passengers in the dusk of the evening, and must 

 have noticed how firmly the claws retained their hold, even 

 though -".he terrified insect was perfectly willing to loosen 

 them. 



Thus attended, and amid all the rejoicings of her sub- 

 jects, the queen proceeds to a cell, thrusts her head into it 

 to see if it be quite as it ought to be, which of course it is 

 among such zealous and industrious housewives, then turn- 

 ing, she inserts her abdomen, leaves an egg in an upright 

 position, fixed by a glutinous matter, and moves on to 

 repeat the operation in another cell. The fecundity of the 

 queen partakes almost of the miraculous. Huber speaks of 

 200 eggs daily being laid; Schirach, of 100,000 in a season; 

 whilst a correspondent of the Gardener^ Chronicle has had 

 queens that have laid 1,000 a-day for three months m 

 succession. 



Almost incredible as this account may appear, the queen- 

 bee is far surpassed in fecundity b}' the queen of the ler- 



