228 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



like, jelly at the same time elongating it as 

 nearly perpendicularly downwards as the 

 existing space will allow. If the colony is 

 in good condition the quantity of food- 

 royal jelly it is called — deposited usually 

 amounts to about half a common thimble 

 full — generally considerably more than the 

 growing queeu can consume. While the 

 feeding is going on the larva may be seen 

 worm-like floating on the center surface of 

 the jelly, and grows very rapidly. In nine 

 or ten days from the laying of the egg the 

 cell is completed and capped over. The in- 

 mate of the cell then undergoes a transfor- 

 mation into the imago form, that is, the 

 proper form of the queen though she is still 

 white and soft. A good capped cell has of- 

 ten something of the size and appearance of 

 the common peanut. At the end of about 

 sixteen days from the laying of the egg the 

 queen has attained her growth and if per- 

 mitted by the bees, cuts ofi' the cap of the 

 cell and emerges. If the process has been 

 undertaken lor the purpose of superseding 

 another, when one is hatched the inmates of 

 the remaining cells are destroyed. In such 

 case, in the ordinary course of things in 

 from one to two weeks thereafter, the young 

 queen mates. This takes place in the open 

 air and consequently if her wings are imper- 

 fect when she hatches or are mutilated after- 

 wards prior to mating, her usefulness is per- 

 manently destroyed. In about two days af- 

 ter mating she begins ordinarily to lay and 

 the old queen she is designed to supersede 

 may still be employed in the same way to the 

 extent of her ability and continue to do so 

 for some little time, and it is under such cir- 

 cumstances that two laying queens are some- 

 times found living agreeably in the same 

 colony. 



If the young queens are being reared to 

 provide for swarming the cells containing 

 them will usually be in all stages of progress 

 at the time the prime swarm issues, from 

 those that are capped to the shallow cup 

 with nothing but a fresh laid egg. The 

 prime swarm is of course the iirst one and 

 is accompanied by the old queen and nor- 

 mally issues the first day of favorable weath- 

 er after the capping of the first queen cell. 

 In about a week the first young queen 

 hatches and shortly one or two others are 

 ready to hatch also and if the colony has no 

 desire to cast a second or after swarm they 

 are permitted to come out and the royal 

 cions fight for supremacy with their deadly 



stings, and all but one are quickly despatch- 

 ed and the remaining cells are destroyed, but 

 if after swarming is meditated the workers 

 prevent their emergence by holding on the 

 caps of the cells for a day or two until the 

 hatched queen is able and there is a fit time 

 to lead off a swarm, in the meantime feed- 

 ing the imprisoned queens by means of the 

 queen's tongues which they protrude through 

 the crack they have cut in the cell. For af- 

 ter swarming the bees are not so particular 

 about a favorable time as in the case of a 

 prime swarm. The exigency of the circum- 

 stances often compels haste, for the impris- 

 oned queens are urgent in their demands for 

 admission into the world. It is during the 

 time of waiting that the fighting of the 

 queens may be heard by applying the ear to 

 the side of the hive. So, after-swarms are 

 liable to issue any hour of the day and it is 

 said the issuing has been known to take 

 place even by moonlight, while a prime 

 swarm usually issues only during fine weath- 

 er at some time between 8 o'clock a. m. and 

 1 o'clock p. m. If further after-swarming 

 is intended the same course substantially is 

 pursued until at the time of issuing of the 

 last swarm all queens are released and many 

 are sometimes found with that swarm, but 

 all but one are soon destroyed, as in other 

 cases, by royal combat. The young or vir 

 gin queens, as they are termed, are very 

 agile and ready and swift in flight, while 

 laying queens are comparatively heavy and 

 slow. It is probably on account of this 

 characteristic that after swarms often escape 

 to the woods without alighting in the neigh- 

 borhood of the apiary, a course which prime 

 swarms seldom venture upon. The mating 

 of virgin queens which accompany swarms 

 as well as the one which remains in the old 

 old hive takes place in the manner already 

 described. 



Sometimes a queen fails without sufficient 

 warning to allow her to deposit eggs in 

 queen cells, or she may be destroyed by ac- 

 cident in which case if there are worker eggs 

 in the hive the bees usually proceed within a 

 day or two to form queeu cells over worker 

 eggs or young larvse by cutting away the cell 

 walls so as to make room for the cell re- 

 quired. The process then is the same as 

 when the egg is originally deposited. I say 

 they usually proceed thus, for bees seem to 

 follow no rule invariably. If they fail to do 

 so or if there are no worker eggs in the hive 

 the colony becomes helplessly queenless and 



