364 NATURAL HISTORY. 



food which constitutes the first meal only of the worker larva. The consequence of this difference of 

 treatment is that the larva attains its matitrity in six days, when it is closed up in the usual manner, 

 becomes transformed into a pupa, and in sixteen days gives birth to a fertile female or queen. As the 

 queen-bees are so jealous that two of them cannot live together in the same hive, the old queen, when 

 she becomes aware of the presence within her realm of a possible successor, becomes much agitated, 

 and would doubtless destroy the young female, whose existence is betrayed by a sharp piping sound, 

 if the workers did not carefully keep the latter in her cell. In course of time the agitation of the old 

 queen becomes extreme, and communicates itself to the other Bees in the hive, which grow exceedingly 

 disquieted, display great activity, and in consequence raise the temperature of the hive to an almost 

 unbearable pitch. This is generally revealed by a tendency on the part of the Bees to issue from the 

 hive in great numbers, and by clinging together suspend themselves in a compact mass just outside 

 the entrance to the hive. This process is called " clustering," and is generally to be taken as an 

 indication that "swarming" is about to take place. Sooner or later, at any rate, a great swarm of 

 Bees, frequently numbering ten or fifteen thousand in strong hives, will rush out of the hive, carrying 

 with them the old queen. They spread in every direction through the air, often to such an extent as 

 to have been compared to the flakes of a heavy fall of snow. In a few minutes, however, the queen, 

 who, from being heavy with eggs, cannot fly far, and some of the Bees, settle upon the branch of a 

 tree or some other projecting object ; others collect upon these, until at last a large ball of Bees 

 is formed, having their queen in their midst. This is taken into a new hive, and constitutes the 

 foundation of a new colony. 



The young queen's first thought on escaping from the cell in which she was reared is to proceed 

 at once to destroy any sisters that she may happen to have, and in this seemingly unnatural course 

 she is abetted, and even aided, by the workers, unless their instincts tell them that further swarming 

 will be immediately necessary for the well-being of the hive. In the latter case they prevent their 

 new sovereign from carrying out her murderous intentions, and, according to some writers, will, with 

 this object in view, treat her very unceremoniously. 



From two days to a week after her emergence the young queen takes her nuptial flight, for in 

 the Bees, as in many other insects, the union of the sexes always takes place in the air. Whatever 

 may be its object there is no doubt that this is what occurs in the Bees, and there is ample evidence 

 that the nuptials of these insects are celebrated during flight. In quitting the hive the young queen is 

 described as taking a careful survey of it and its surroundings, apparently so as to identify it on her 

 return. She then starts off and is soon out of sight. A day or two after she has returned to the 

 hive she usually commences her regular maternal duties, which she continues to perform without ever 

 quitting the hive, until she goes forth as the leader of a swarm. 



According to some experienced Bee-keepers the drones of the hive do not take to flight with the 

 young queen, but the nuptial flight is undertaken with the purpose of meeting drones from other 

 hives, and thus securing the benefits of cross-fertilisation. Later princesses produced in the hive go 

 off as the leaders of after-swarms, and these we might certainly expect to be impregnated by drones 

 from other stocks. But, on the other hand, we have the remarkable fact that as soon as all the 

 fertilisable females have emerged from their cells or been destroyed, the surviving drones, as though 

 considered no longer of any use, are ruthlessly massacred by the workers, and thrown out of the 

 hive. 



It has already been mentioned that in the Bee, and probably in other social Hymenoptera, 

 workers occasionally occur which possess a certain limited fertility. These workers in the case of the 

 Bee always produce drone-eggs ; and in fact it was the recognition of this fact that led originally to the 

 establishment by Von Siebold of the theory of the constitution of the Bee community, which is now 

 generally accepted. These partially fertile workers, which become a nuisance in the hive, have part of 

 the ovaries sufficiently developed to produce eggs, but, as they are incapable of impregnation, these 

 eggs cannot be fertilised, and hence produce only drones. Why the partial development of the 

 ovarian organs takes place is not known with certainty, but it may be inferred with considerable 

 probability that the larvse of these workers were brought up in cells near the royal cells, and that 

 some portions of the food intended to bring the young queens to maturity fell to their share. 



That we have devoted so much space to the natural history of the Honey Bee is due to the fact 



