THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



105 



A GUIDE TO 



THE BEST METHODS OF 



BEEKEEPING. 



By J. L. Christ. 



{Continued from p. SO, Vol. IT.) 



Thk superiority of the queen 

 over all her subjects appears even 

 at her germination and birth. 

 The mother bee deposits the egg, 

 out of which she is hatched, in a 

 special royal cell, or other bees cau- 

 tiously carry it into this cell, which 

 has been carefully prepared and 

 adorned by the subjects. The royal 

 cell differs in its shape from all 

 other cells, which latter consist of 

 small hexagonal tubes, the pyram- 

 idal base of which is constructed 

 rhombically out of three pieces, and 

 almost all these cells lie horizon- 

 tally. But the ro3^al cells are per- 

 pendicular, so that the opening of 

 the cell is turned downwards and 

 consequently the pupa is lying 

 there head downwards. The struc- 

 ture of the common hexagonal cells 

 shows an admirable economy on 

 the part of the bees concerning the 

 wax, but they use it lavishly when 

 building royal cells. The latter 

 are so strong and thick with wax, 

 that one single royal cell weighs as 

 much as one hundred and fifty 

 common cells. Their interior is 

 round and smooth and has, in pro- 

 portion to the body of the queen, a 

 larger circumference than that of 

 the common cells. The bees fill the 

 space not occupied by the pupa, 

 with a more abundant quantity of 

 better and more savory food than 

 12 



the common cells obtain. And this 

 royal or rather queenly castle is 

 never erected among other cells, 

 but on a separate spot ; it hangs at 

 the rim of a comb, where usually 

 some drone brood is likewise depos- 

 ited, like an acorn, of nearl}' a " fin- 

 ger long;" but when the colony is 

 weak, they hang the queen cell on 

 a comb in the centre of the hive 

 for the sake of the warmth and 

 nursing. They are continually busy 

 around such a cell, as soon as it is 

 occupied ; they manifest the utmost 

 care, and some bees never go away 

 from it. Some, in the interior, ad- 

 minister to the young queen with- 

 out intermission ; others on the 

 outside prepare ornaments for the 

 royal cell, which consist in hexag- 

 onal plates decreasing in propor- 

 tion towards the end of the cell and 

 becoming smaller and smaller. 

 There is in every colony such a royal 

 cell ; in some are two, three andeven 

 more. But when the 3'Oung queen 

 is bred so that she has left her cra- 

 dle, the bees take down the greater 

 part of the cell, and use the wax 

 where else it may be necessary. 



Here arises a much disputed 

 question : of what kind is the egg 

 out of which the queen is bred ? Is 

 it an egg in which there is the 

 germ of a royal pupa and out of 

 which no other bee can issue but a 

 mother bee or queen, although the 

 best microscope shows only two 

 branches of eggs in the uterus of a 

 queen, which furnish the drone 

 eggs, and such eggs out of which 

 the common workers issue ? 



The parson Rev. Schirach, in the 



