FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 



239 



too old for a good queen. If, now, the bees should 

 select a larva more than three days old, the queen would 

 emerge in less than nine days. I think no one has ever 

 known this to occur. 



y 



Fig. 8i. — Robber Bees. 



BEES DO NOT PREFER TOO OLD LARV.E. 



As a matter of fact bees do not use such poor judg- 

 ment as to select larvae too old when larvae sufficiently 

 young are present, as I have proven by direct experi- 

 ment and many observations. It will not do, however, 

 to conclude from this that all queen-cells started by a 

 queenless colony left to themselves will be equally good. 



