112 THE LORE OF THE HONEY-BEE 



or bee in the larval state. Nevertheless, on the 

 hive being opened after a further period of eighteen 

 days, one new queen-cell containing an egg was 

 discovered. And this egg duly hatched out into 

 a fine, well-developed queen-bee. Assuming the 

 facts to be true, and they seem to be incontro- 

 vertible, there is only one inference to be drawn 

 from this : some enterprising bee of the colony 

 must have gone to another hive and either begged, 

 borrowed, or stolen a worker -egg. Apiarian 

 scientists very rightly hesitate to ascribe to the 

 honey-bee surpassing ingenuity of this kind on 

 the testimony of a single case, however well 

 authenticated. But other instances are on record 

 nearly as indubitable, and as it is an unquestioned 

 fact that worker-bees will carry eggs about from 

 comb to comb within the space of their own hive, 

 it does not seem wholly incredible that they may 

 visit other hives in the immediate neighbourhood, 

 especially when impelled to extra resourcefulness 

 by so vital a need. The whole question is inter- 

 esting in more ways than one, as it seems to bear 

 very trenchantly on the problem of " Reason 

 versus Instinct," now busy in the thoughts of 

 most modern naturalists. 



In whatever way the egg for the queen-cell 

 may be furnished by the stock intending to raise 

 a new mother-bee, the first sign of life is always 

 the same — a tiny, white, elongated speck, glued 

 on end to the base, or what must rather be called 



