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X. Observations on the Duration of Life in the Honey 

 Bee. By J. G. Desborough. 



[Bead 4th May, 1868.] 



The following observations on the Honey Bee are in 

 continuation of the Prize Essay of the Entomological So- 

 ciety for the year 1852 (Trans. Ent. Soc, second series, 

 vol. ii. p. 145); and of the Paper on the same subject 

 read on the 2nd April, 1855 {ib., vol. iii. p. 187) . 



In the last mentioned paper, I traced the existence of 

 a queen bee from the month of July, 1852, to the end 

 of the year 1854; and I now propose to give the result 

 of my observations upon the queen, with which the hive 

 was stocked, until her death, or rather, her disappearance. 



The mouth of January, 1855, was frosty nearly through- 

 out, with much snow, and the frost continued in the suc- 

 ceeding month up to the 25th, when a thaw set in ; not- 

 withstanding this severe weather, the queen commenced 

 depositing eggs, and on the 19th February, I observed 

 brood sealed over; on the 10th March, I saw a young 

 bee perfect, and on that day there were 108 cells sealed 

 over containing brood ; the queen however did not again 

 deposit eggs until April, one prevailing* cause for which 

 might possibly have been the continued cold season, but 

 singularly enough, one drone cell was observed on the 

 1st April in the midst of worker cells, but the grub had 

 died before being sealed over. The breeding from the 

 6th April, on which day the queen again deposited eggs, 

 was carried on uninterruptedly until September. Pollen 

 was first collected on the 6tli April, and the spring was 

 so unfavourable, that I was compelled to continue feeding 

 throughout May and up to the 17th June, after which 

 time honey was rapidly collected and stored. 



Another single drone was reared in a worker cell, and 

 although he was allowed to come to matui*ity, on the 11th 

 July he was dragged out of the cell and killed. 



The brood during this year, with the exception named" 

 above, was entirely worker brood, and although the 

 queen, to all extei'nal appeai'ance, was as healthy as ever, 

 she did not produce in the aggregate one half the quan- 

 tity of bees brought forth in the preceding year; this 



TRANS. ENT. SOC. 1868. PART II. (jULt). Q 



