THE HONEY-BEE 47 



fertilising the queen, he does absolutely nothing 

 helpful in the life of the hive. 



When the queen moves on her egg-laying pro- 

 gress she first explores each empty cell with her 

 antennae, putting her head deep into the cell ; 

 then turning round she clasps the edge of the 

 cell with her hind legs and inserting her abdomen 

 deposits a single egg in the centre floor of the 

 cell. Then she passes on to the next cell, and 

 never does she tire or in any circumstance miss 

 a cell. During this progress she is accompanied 

 by a small court of worker-bees who, as courtiers 

 should do, walk backwards before her. Some of 

 them are engaged in fanning the queen with 

 their wings, others stroke or lick with their 

 " tongue " the royal thorax or abdomen, others 

 feed her on their half-digested " pap " or " royal 

 jelly," and all are humming in a most soothing 

 and agreeable manner. 



A young queen at the height of the season 

 (May or June) lays some 2,000-3,500 eggs in the 

 four-and-twenty hours. After the second year 

 her fecundity is somewhat abated, but in the 

 course of her four to five years' life she produces 

 many hundred thousand ova. To show the 

 measure of this amazing power of metabolism, 



