6 A MANUAL OF BEE-KEEPING. 



piece of film, without any breach, suture, or join. The 

 film lining the cell of the Queen Bee is considerably 

 thicker than the Workers', and this often is coated with 

 wax on the inside. 



There are no such things as " Queen eggs," that is, eggs 

 destined from the first to produce Queens and no others ; 

 and although the cells in which Queens are reared are 

 of very different construction to those of Workers and 

 Drones, I am of opinion that after their construction 

 no egg is ever laid in them ; Queens are not raised by 

 the Workers, unless there is a probability that they will 

 be required either in consequence of loss, complete or 

 apprehended, or infertility of the old Queen ; and when 

 the raising of Queens is decided on, the Workers select 

 certain eggs already laid, or even an already hatched larva 

 which may be as much as three days old, round which, 

 after destroying the contiguous cells, they build a large 

 cell of totally different construction, within which the 

 young larva is fed with a special food known to Apiarians 

 as Royal Jelly. This appears to have the property of 

 effecting a complete metamorphosis in the development 

 of the larva. 



The food so supplied is of a stimulating character, with 

 an acid reaction. It is furnished to the royal larvae in 

 greater quantities than can be consumed ; the Bees appear 

 incessantly to be attending on the royal larva, so that by 

 this treatment the development of all its organs is much 

 accelerated, and on the sixteenth day from the deposition 

 of the egg the perfect Queen appears. When this change 

 is about to take place, the Bees gnaw away part of the 

 wax covering of the cell, until at last it becomes almost 

 pellucid from its extreme thinness. The marvel is in- 

 explicable how a mere change and greater abundance of 

 food, and a more roomy lodging, should so transform the 



