100 THE LORE OF THE HONEY-BEE 



all its six sides and base being absolutely impervious 

 But the cradle-cell of the queen is not only madi 

 of a porous material throughout, but it is commonl; 

 placed at the edge of the comb, where it stand 

 out in the full current of ventilation, the air per 

 colating the whole substance of its walls in addi 

 tion to entering freely at the large cell-mouth 

 Thus the main cause of the extraordinary differenci 

 in the development of the queen-bee and thi 

 worker is that of treatment ; the one being givei 

 unlimited rich food and oxygen and room to grov 

 in, the other receiving only meagre workhousi 

 diet, restricted quarters, and little air to breathe. 

 Yet, making every allowance for the stimulatin| 

 or retarding effect of these agencies on the younj 

 female grub, we are still hardly any nearer to ; 

 solution of the mystery. We are compelled t( 

 believe that the egg which produces the worke 

 is identical in its nature with that from which i 

 evolved the queen-bee, because a simple experi 

 ment will at once dispel all doubt on the matter 

 If the egg deposited in the queen-cell be removed 

 and an egg taken from any one of the thousand 

 of worker-cells in a hive be put in its place, th' 

 worker-egg will always produce a fully developei 

 and accoutred queen-bee. On the other hand, i 

 an egg be taken from a queen-cell and placed ii 

 a worker-cell, it will as infallibly hatch out into 

 common undersized worker. It would be sufficien 

 tax on the credibility if the differences of quee 



