THE HONEY-BEE. 69 



therefore, that, if the larva of a common Bee were 

 fed with the royal jelly, the imperfection in her bodily 

 organs would, as far at least as depended on the 

 nature of the food, be removed, and she would be- 

 come capable of laying eggs. Now this does occa- 

 sionally take place; some of the royal food is dropped, 

 probably by accident, into some of the cells adjoining 

 that of the Queen, and the Bees therein reared 

 acquire the power of laying eggs. This fact was 

 discovered by the naturalist Biem, and has been con- 

 firmed by Huber. There is, however, a very ma- 

 terial and hitherto unaccounted for difference between 

 these fertile workers and perfect Queens, the former 

 lay the eggs of males only. We would certainly have 

 expected, a priori, that a difference between them 

 should exist ; because the workers have fed on the 

 royal jelly only for a short time, and because their 

 birth-place is so much smaller. But we cannot easily 

 conceive how these circumstances should be the cause 

 of their laying only male-eggs. In truth, it appears 

 to be one of those mysteries in bee -economy 

 which, with all our researches on the subject, we 

 cannot yet unravel. These fertile workers are never 

 found in any hives but such as have lost their natural 

 Queen. 



The natural term of the worker's existence does 

 not extend, we think, beyond six or eight months. 

 It is the opinion of Dr. Bevan that all the Bees brought 

 into existence at the Queen's great laying in spring, 

 die before winter. But many never reach that period 

 Showers of rain, violent blasts of wind, sudden changes 



