THE HONEY-BEE. 85 



that the Queen lays male eggs, and that, as the natu- 

 ral consequence, royal cells are built, in which she 

 lays, and, in due time, she leads off a swarm. Now, 

 does not this fact seem to imply that there is no such 

 arbitrary arrangement of the several kinds of eggs as 

 Huber imagines ? and if it would be stretching the 

 inference too far to say, that the Queen has the power 

 of laying those of males or of workers as circumstances 

 may require, does it not imply that the statement of 

 Huber may admit of very important and frequent 

 exceptions ? 



About the twentieth day from the commencement 

 of the laying of male eggs, the bees begin to lay the 

 foundations of royal cells, and the Queen having re- 

 sumed laying female eggs, deposits them, at intervals 

 of one or two days, in these cells, from which are 

 hatched, in due time, other Queens. This regular 

 process is, however, sometimes interrupted : if the 

 Queen be not a fertile one, and the colony is, in con- 

 sequence, weak in population ; if the hive or domicile 

 itself be large in proportion to the number of its in- 

 habitants ; or if the temperature of the season has been 

 such as to interfere with the copious collection of 

 honey or farina, in these circumstances no male eggs 

 will be laid, no royal cells founded, and no swarms 

 will issue. But, in favourable circumstances, the 

 laying of royal eggs takes place regularly during the 

 laying of those of males, and swarming is the conse- 

 quence. The royal cell (PI. VI.) is an inch in depth, and 

 it has been considered difficult to comprehend how the 

 body of the Queen can reach the bottom, so as to 



