lU THE PRACTICAL BEE aiTIDE. 



but drones — drones which, perhaps by reason of their too 

 generous nursing, frequently die in their cells. 



197. Nursing Queen Larvse — There is not any difference 

 between the egg which produces a queen bee and that which 

 produces a worker bee. But the treatment in the process of 

 nursing varies considerably. The larva, in the former case, is 

 given a cell which permits of its growth to the full dimensions 

 of a queen, and is more liberally supplied with food — food of 

 a richer quality, called " Royal Jelly " to distinguish it from 

 the food provided for other larvce : and, whereas the larva of 

 the worker bee is weaned three days after it has left the egg, 

 and is then supplied with a coarser food (190), the larva in a 

 queen^ cell continues to receive abundantly the Royal jelly. 

 Leuckart discovered that the development of the female genital 

 organs begins upon the third day after hatching. This 

 development continues under the liberal treatment referred to, 

 and the produce is a mature female or queen; or ceases wi(h 

 the withdrawal of the stimulating food, when the result is an 

 immature female, or worker. It follows that, for the produc- 

 tion of a vigorous queen, the special treatment should begin 

 with the egg, or at least before the larva has passed its third 

 day. 



198. Wonderful Effects of Special Nursing — The effects 

 upon the larva of this continued supply of richer food, are 

 among the most wonderful in the history of bee life. The 

 larva which, in the ordinary course of nature, we should expect 

 to arrive at maturity by slower stages, reaches its full growth 

 in about two-thirds of the time occupied by the worker larva 

 (204). The young queen has her organs fully developed, so 

 that, when fertilised, she can, during the ordinary span of 

 queen life, produce impregnated eggs to the extent of loo 

 times her own weight; while the worker can never, by any 

 means, produce an impregnated egg (200). In colour, shape, 

 and size, she differs materially from the worker, being darker, 

 more delicately formed, and with greater length (4). Her 

 sting is longer, and curved (41). Her hind legs are without 

 corbiculas (34). Her abdomen is without wax secreting recep- 

 tacles (37). Her eyes have only about io,ooo facets, as against 

 the 12,000 facets of the worker (30). Her habits and instincts 

 are, in many respects, the opposite of those of the worker- 

 she confines herself to the duty of egg laying, never leaving 

 the darkness of the hive after her wedding flight, except when 

 accompanying a swarm : she is not disposed to sting even if 

 molested by the bee-keeper : far from sharing the worker's 

 deep-rooted reverence for the person of a queen, she shows 

 a bitter hostility to all others of her own rank, and will fight 



