62 Transactions of the 



experiments of Shiracli's, it is clear that the grub of the 

 worker is the same as that of the queen bee. As several 

 queens are hatched at the same time, the strongest stings the 

 others to death, and is left mistress of the hive. The object 

 of the queen's creation is, that she may dej)Osit her eggs in the 

 cells formed by the workers. In the first eleven months of 

 her existence, the eggs she lays are destined to become 

 worker bees ; after that, she lays the eggs from which drones 

 are produced ; and at this period the workers begin to build 

 the royal comb, which is generally suspended from the sides 

 or end of another comb. The royal cells vary in number from 

 three to about twenty. When the larvse in the royal cells 

 are about to become pupae, the old queen gets violently 

 excited; she communicates her agitation to many of the 

 workers ; their rapid movements raise the temperature of 

 the hive, and at last a large portion of the bees, headed by a 

 queen, rush forth from the hive. Sometimes, however, instead 

 of swarming, the old queen kills the royal nymphs, and the 

 hive remains in statu quo. While the pupae in the royal cells 

 are being developed, the queen shows a strong inclination to 

 destroy them ; but, to prevent this, the workers drive her 

 majesty back. She then emits a peculiar sound which has 

 the effect of aiTesting the movements of the workers, but on 

 again endeavouring to move, the sound ceases, and the charm 

 is dissolved. If one queen be removed, and a fresh one in- 

 troduced at once, she is kept prisoner till she starves ; if, 

 however, the old queen has been lost eighteen hours, the 

 new one is treated with more consideration ; if the old queen 

 has been lost twenty-four hours, the strange one is acknow- 

 ledged as queen of the hive. Some assert that it is always a 

 young queen that leads off the swarm ; others, that it is 

 always an old one: the question is still sub judice. Perfect 

 order is restored in a hive a few days after the departure of 

 a swarm, and often the same stock swarms once, or even 

 twice, during the same season. A swarm in the early part 

 of May is prized much more than a later swarm, because it 

 usually consists of many more bees, and the new colony 

 gets a longer season to work in. Soon after a swarm leaves 

 a hive, it generally settles upon a tree or bush, previous to 

 winging its final flight — some say to rest the queen. It then 

 rises perpendicularly, and darts off with great velocity to its 

 final resting-place. I have been told by a bee-keeper that 

 the best way to arrest their flight is, to squirt them with a 

 syringe, thus causing them instantly to alight. Some au- 

 thorities assert that bees have an acute sense of hearing, and 



