64 THE SENSES OF BEES. 



sary for their being hatched, the heat will of course 

 penetrate to the other side, and some portion of it 

 would be wasted if the cells on that side were eithoa* 

 empty, or filled only with honey. But when both 

 sides are filled with brood, and covered with hive-bees, 

 the heat is confined to the spot where it is necessary, 

 and is turned to full account in bringing the young to 

 maturity. See PL XII. Fig. 1, in which a, b, c, repre- 

 sent that part of the comb in an experimental hive 

 where the observation was made, which was filled with 

 brood, the rest of the square being, with the exception 

 of the uncoloured part, sealed honey. On the opposite 

 side, the brood comb was exactly of the same figure, 

 insomuch, that on the narrowest inspection, I could 

 hardly discern one cell which contained brood while 

 its opposite contained honey. PL VI. exhibits a Royal 

 Cell, e, containing a larva nearly ready to be sealed 

 up ; /, form of the Royal Cell at the time of the egg 

 being deposited in it; g, ditto, when sealed, and just 

 before hatching takes place ; i, ditto, after the young 

 Queen has been hatched ; h, ditto, with a ragged open- 

 ing in the broadside through which the dead body of 

 a young Queen, destroyed by the Queen regnant, has 

 been dragged out by the bees. 



The mutual aversion of Queens is a striking feature 

 in the natural history of this insect ; and though not 

 perhaps strictly in place, one extraordinary effect of 

 it may be mentioned here. Their mutual enmity 

 xnay be truly said to be an in-born disposition with 

 them, for no sooner has the first of the race, in a 

 hive about to throw off a second swarm, escaped 

 from her own cradle, than she hurries away in search 



