62 THE HIVE AND HONEY-BEE. 



is a native, it would have established itself in some cavern 

 or capacious cleft in the rocks, and would soon have 

 become so powerful as to bid defiance to all attempts to 

 appropriate the avails of its labors. 



It has already been stated that none, except the mother- 

 wasps and hornets, survive the Winter. Had these in- 

 sects, like the bee, been able to commence the season 

 with the accumulated strength of a lai-ge colony, they 

 would, long before its close, have proved an intolerable 

 nuisance. If, on the contrary, the queen-bee had been 

 compelled, solitary and alone, to lay the foundations of a 

 new commonwealth, the honey-harvest would have disap 

 peared long before she could become the parent of a 

 numerous family. 



The process of rearing Queen-Bees will now be more 

 particularly described. Early in the season, if a hive 

 becomes very populous, the bees usually make prepara- 

 tions for swarming. A number of royal cells are begun, 

 being commonly constructed upon those edges of the 

 combs (PI. XIV"., a, 5, c, c?), which are not attached to the 

 sides of the hive. These cells somewhat resemble a small 

 pea nut (PI. XHE., Figs. 49, 50), and are about an inch 

 deep, and one-third of an inch in diameter : being very 

 thick, they require much wax for their construction. They 

 .are seldom seen in a perfect state after the swarming 

 season, as the bees, after the queen has hatched, cut them 

 down to the shape of a small acorn-cup. (PI. XIV., c.) 

 These queen-ceUs, while in progress, receive a very unu- 

 sual amount of attention from the workers. There is 

 scarcely a second in which a bee is not peeping into them ; 

 and as fast as one is satisfied, another pops in her head to 

 report progress, or increase the supply of royal jelly. 

 Their importance to the community might easily be 



