410 GARDEN MA^'AGEME^'T. 



of which they are fond. Some parts of it should also be moistened with a 

 slight layer of honey. The bees that remain in the old hive take particular 

 care of the royal cells, and prevent the young queens successively hatched, 

 from leaving them, except at an interval of several days from each departure. 

 As soon as a j"oung queen is hatched, she proceeds to attack the other royal 

 cells ; but here there is a remarkable difference in the conduct of the vrorkers. 

 The moment she attempts to approach a royal cell, the gnards suiTounding it 

 immediately drive her off. Irritated at this, the young queen stands upright, 

 and utters a shrill and clear sound. No sooner is it heard than the bees appear 

 to be paralyzed : they remain motionless, and hang down their heads. She 

 then attacks the cells, but, in doing so, ceases to pipe ; when the bees, reco- 

 vering from their stupor, drive her away again. This is continued till the 

 queen is ii'ritated to such a degree that she follows the steps of her pre- 

 decessor, and, in a state of delirium which is communicated to a portion of tlio 

 workers, she quits the hive with a second swarm. In this manner several 

 swarms take place in the course of the summer between the months of April 

 and August, a necessary consequence of the great increase in the population 

 of the hive. 



13 16. After the royal cells are closed in, in order that the inclosed grub may 

 undergo its change to the chrysalis state, the workers immediately remove 

 here and there a portion of the wax from the surface, so as to render it 

 unequal ; and immediately before the last metamorphosis takes place, the 

 walls are so thin that all the motions of the inclosed pupa are distinctly 

 visible. On the seventh day, the part covering the head and trunk of the 

 pupa is almost entirely unwaxed, whereby the inclosed insect, on arriving at 

 its winged state, would be able to make its exit, were it not for the proceed- 

 ings of the workers. As soon as the workers perceive that the young queen 

 has cut through her cocoon, they immediately solder the cleft up with wax, 

 and so keep her a prisoner against her will. Upon this, as if to complain of 

 such treatment, she emits a distinct humming sound, which excites no dx-ead 

 or pity in her subjects, who detain her two days longer. During this period 

 she sometimes thrusts her tongue through the cleft she has made, drawing it 

 in and out, until she is noticed by the workers, who thereupon feed her with 

 honey, till, her hunger being satisfied, she draws her tongue back. At the 

 proper period she is released, and proceeds as her predecessors had done. 



1 31 7. Shortly after the swarming, the impregnation of the queen takes place. 

 The queen, being preceded by the drones, and having previously reconnoitred 

 the exterior of the hive, rises aloft in the air, wheeling upwards in large circles 

 until she is out of sight. She returns in about half an hour, with the most 

 evident marks of impregnation, although occasionally these excursions ai"e of 

 shorter duration, and are repeated, the female, in such case, exhibiting no 

 such marks. Now it is that a new stimulus to exertion is given to the workers; 

 everything is done with the greatest care, and the}- a^jpear o be fully conscious 

 of the importance of their activity. The i^rogress of their abours is the signal 

 by which the queen is directed in laying her eggs. 



