HYMENOPTEBA. 



329 



When the female returns to the hive, she is the object of every 

 attention, the workers pressing round her, and forming quite a 

 train. Many approach her, and lick the surface of her body ; 

 others brush her, caress her, and present her their trunks full of 

 honey. Forty- eight hours after her return to the hive, the mother 



sand : the deposition of these eggs occupies about a month. 



Towards the twentieth day, the workers lay the foundations of 

 some royal cells. When these cells have attained a certain 

 length, the queen deposits an egg in each, allowing, however, one 

 or two days to intervene between the laying of these privileged 

 eggs, so that the young queens to whom they are to give birth 

 should not be hatched all at the same time, which would cause 

 difficulties and even wars concerning the right of their succession 

 to the throne. This complication, human governments have not 

 been always able to avoid, as history shows ; but the bees have 

 found out a way of doing so. 



The distribution of the eggs in the cells is not left to chance. 

 Each egg, according to the sex to which it belongs, is deposited 

 in the cell which awaits it. The eggs of the females do not, 

 * Not invariably, the period is often longer. ED. 



