114 THE LORE OF THE HONEY-BEE 



allow the whole future welfare of the colony 

 to depend on a single life alone. Therefore not 

 one queen has been raised, but several. As 

 many as five or six queens may be ready to hatch 

 out in different parts of the brood-nest, and none 

 of them will be permitted to break from her cell 

 until the appointed time arrives. For each the 

 cradle now becomes a prison. A small hole is 

 bored in the cell-wall, through which the impatient 

 captive is fed, pending the day when she is to be 

 allowed her liberty ; and close guard and watch 

 is kept over each cell to save it from the violence 

 of the old queen, who is becoming hourly more 

 restless and suspicious. 



The complete subjection of the mother-bee to 

 the ruling worker-class in the hive receives here 

 a striking confirmation. She is a true exemplar 

 of a prevailing kind of femininity — comely of 

 person, untutored in mind, an inveterate stay-at- 

 home, a prolific mother ; and now there awakens 

 in her the sounding chord of jealousy. Left free 

 to act on her own impulses, she would soon bring 

 about a speedy end to all the careful, long-sighted 

 preparations within the hive. She would tear 

 open each royal cell, and with one thrust of the 

 curved, cruel scimitar that queen-bees use only on 

 their equals in rank, its occupant would be ruth- 

 lessly despatched, and her own supremacy rein- 

 stated. But an impassable barrier stops the way — 

 the collective will of the hive. The violent delight 



