HYMENOPTERA. _ 329 



fall into the same cell, the workers who accompany her hasten to 

 carry out and destroy those that are in excess; This is often the 

 case when the combs have not enough cells to contain all the eggs 

 laid. We have said that the queen only lays worker eggs at this 

 time; the others are laid later. She continues to lay until the cold 

 weather approaches, when she ceases to do so, and does not resume 

 her occupation until the return of spring. This laying is very abun- 

 dant. The queen produces at least two hundred eggs a day; so 

 that in the space of two months she lays more than twelve thousand. 

 Towards the eleventh month of her existence in the perfect state, the 

 queen begins laying the eggs which will produce males, their number 

 varying from 1,500 to 3,000 : the deposition of these eggs occupies 

 -about a month. 



Towards the twentieth day, the workers lay the foundations of 

 some royal cells. When these cells have attained a certain length, 

 the queen deposits an egg in each, allowing, however, one or two days 

 to intervene between the laying of these privileged eggs, so that the 

 young queens to whom they are to give birth should not be hatched all 

 at the same time, which would cause difficulties and even wars con- 

 cerning the right of their succession to the throne. This complication 

 human governments have not been always able to avoid, as history 

 shows ; but the bees have found out a way of doing so. 



The distribution of the eggs in the cells is not left to chance. 

 Each egg, according to the sex to which it belongs, is deposited in 

 the cell which awaits it. The eggs of the females do not, however, 

 differ in any way from those of the workers. The difference in their 

 development depends entirely on the space and food allowed them. 



We represent (Fig. 320) a portion of a comb containing the eggs 

 placed in the cells, as also the royal cells. The regular order of 

 laying is such as we have just described, but the result is quite 

 different when the impregnation of the queen has been retarded by 

 an accidental captivity of two or three weeks. The longer this delay, 

 the greater will be the number of male eggs. If the queen is shut up 

 for more than twenty days after her birth, she can then lay nothing 

 but male eggs during the remainder of her existence. It seems, also, 

 that this delay troubles her intellect ; for she then often makes 

 blunders as to the cells. She lays the eggs of the males, or drones, 

 in the cradles prepared for the queens, and thus brings confusion into 

 the future community. 



The eggs, once laid, are left to the care of the working bees, 

 which Reaumur called the nurses, in opposition to the wax-workers, 

 which are employed in works of construction. According to many 



