48 THE HIVE AND HONEY-BEE. 



are matured, just as unfavorable circumstances diminish 

 the number of eggs laid by the hen; and when the 

 weather is very cold, the queen stops laying in weak colo- 



In the latitude of Northern Massachusetts, I have found 

 that the queen ordinarily ceases to lay some time in Octo- 

 ber ; and begins again, in strong stocks, in the latter part 

 of December. On the 14th of January, 1857 (the previ- 

 ous month having been very cold, the thermometer some- 

 times sinking to 17 below zero), I examined three hives 

 and found that the central combs in two contained eggs 

 and unsealed brood ; there were a few celts with sealed 

 brood in the third. Strong stocks even in the coldest clim- 

 ates usually contain some brood ten months in the year. 



It is amusing to see how the supernumerary eggs of the 

 queen are disposed of. If the workers are too few to take 

 charge of all her eggs, or there is a deficiency of bee-bread 

 to nourish the young ; or if, for any reason, she does not 

 judge best to deposit them in the cells, she stands upon 

 a comb, and simply extrudes them from her oviduct, 

 the workers devouring them as fast as they are laid. I 

 have repeatedly witnessed in observing-hives the sagacity 

 of the queen in thus economising her necessary work, 

 instead of depositing her eggs in cells where they are not 

 wanted. What a difference between her and the stupid 

 hen, which so obstinately persists in sitting upon addled 

 eggs, pieces of chalk, and often upon nothing at all ! 



The workers devour also all eggs which are dropped or 

 deposited out of place by the queen ; thus, even a tiny 

 egg, instead of being wasted, is turned to good account. 



One who carefully watches the habits of bees will often 

 feel inclined to speak of his little favorites as having an 

 intelligence almost if not quite akin to reason ; and I have 

 sometimes queried, whether the workers who are so fond 



