HISTORY AND PHYSIOLOGY. 19 



she prepared to ascend, the guardians of the cells 

 instantly took courage and fairly drove her away. 

 This voice of sovereignty, as it has been called, 

 resembles that which is made by young queens 

 before they are liberated from their cells ; it is a 

 very distinct kind of clicking, composed of many 

 notes in the same key, which follow each other 

 rapidly. The sound accompanied by the attitude 

 just described, always produces a paralysing effect 

 upon the bees. 



Bees, when deprived of their queen, have the 

 power of selecting one or more grubs of workers, 

 and converting them into queens. To effect this, 

 each of the promoted grubs has a royal cell or 

 cradle formed for it, by having three contiguous 

 common cells thrown into one ; two of the three 

 grubs that occupy those cells are sacrificed, and 

 the remaining one is liberally fed with royal jelly. 

 This royal jelly is a pungent food prepared by the 

 working bees, exclusively for the purpose of feed- 

 ing such of the larvae as are destined to become 

 candidates for the honours of royalty, whether it 

 be their lot to assume them or not. It is more 

 stimulating than the food of ordinary bees, has not 

 the same mawkish taste, and is evidently acescent. 

 The royal larvae are supplied with it rather pro- 

 fusely, and there is always some of it left in the 

 cell, after their transformation. Schirach, who 

 was secretary to the Apiarian Society in Upper 



