426 [Proc. B.N.F.C., 



termed " workers." These are undeveloped females, and each is 

 armed with a sting, as some persons before this have experienced. 

 These latter do all the work, as their name implies. They clean 

 up the house, carry out the debris, nurse the young, feed the queen, 

 ventilate the hive, secrete the wax, build the comb, gather the 

 honey, and defend the citadel. For a week or so after emerging 

 from their cell they devote themselves to nursing the larvae, which 

 arehatching out; after which time they proceed to the orchards, fields, 

 and meadows in quest of honey. As there are three kinds of bees, 

 so there are three kinds of cells, in which the queen, drones, and 

 workers are respectively hatched, of which specimens were exhibited 

 to the audience. A singular fact noted was the parthenogenesis of 

 the queen, by which is meant, that in order to lay eggs that will 

 bring forth living bees, it is not necessary that the queen bee 

 should ever become acquainted with a drone ; but these eggs 

 invariably hatch out drones. Impregnation is necessary to enable 

 her to produce female eggs, i.e., eggs which will hatch into queens 

 or into workers ; but unnecessary as far as drones are concerned. 

 Another curious point referred to was the manner in which the bees 

 can repair the calamity, if by any chance their queen may be lost. 

 This is done by the bees selecting one of the working larvae and 

 treating it in such a way that instead of it coming out a worker or 

 imperfect bee in twenty-one days, it emerges from its cell a queen 

 or perfect bee in sixteen days. The essayist then proceeded to 

 describe the cruel treatment to which bees are annually subjected 

 in order to obtain their honey. A pit is dug, into which burning 

 coals and sulphur are thrown, and over this the skep of doomed 

 bees is placed ; most of the bees are suffocated in from ten to 

 fifteen minutes, but very many of them escape, to wander about with 

 singed wings and legs, until hunger or cold puts an end to their miser- 

 able existence. Such a method of treating them cannot give pure 

 honey. Mr. Russell then dwelt upon the humane method of treat- 

 ment of the honey bee, which consists of employing boxes or glasses 



