CHAPTER LXXX 



THE QUEEN-BEE 



rTIHE eggs destined to give birth to queens are 

 A laid in special cells, much more spacious and 

 solid than those where the working bees hatch. 

 Their shape is, in a general way, that of a thimble. 

 They are fastened to the edge of the combs and are 

 called royal cells." 



"When she lays in a large or small cell," asked 

 Jules, "does the queen know whether the egg is that 

 of a queen or of a working-bee!" 



"She does not know, she does not need to know. 

 There is no difference between the queen-eggs and 

 working-bee-eggs. Its treatment alone decides the 

 issue for the egg. Treated in a certain manner, the 

 young larva becomes a queen, on whom depends the 

 future prosperity of the hive; treated in another 

 way, it becomes one of the working 

 people and is furnished with brushes 

 and baskets. Bees make their queens 

 at will ; the first egg laid would suffice 

 to fill the royal functions worthily, 

 if treated with that end in view. And 

 what does not treatment, or education, accomplish 

 with us in our tender years? It does not make us 

 kings or peasants, but honest people, which is better ; 

 and scoundrels, which is worse. 



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