and tts Economic Management. 41 
the swarming season. It is therefore in view of this 
colonising instinct that the drones are now brought for- 
ward ; this being the first indication that a stock is 
expecting to swarm at no distant date. If we suppress 
the production of drones then, by allowing no drone comb, 
one step is taken towards the prevention of swarming. 
Royal Cells. 
The next and more important step taken by the bees, 
is to build special cells, either on the surface of the 
combs, or more often around the edges, something in the 
shape of an acorn; indeed in their first stage, they are 
almost an exact counterpart of the cup. They may remain 
in this state, as they often do, for many days if the weather 
is not quite favorable ; but in due course the queen deposits 
in each an egg when the cell walls are extended downwards, 
and as soon as the tiny larve hatch from these they are fed 
excessively upon what is called “ Royal Jelly,” a substance 
much thicker than that given to the common larva. From 
the sixth to the seventh day the developing insect has its 
cell capped over; it then spins a cocoon which does not 
completely surround itself, as the abdomen is not covered, 
and it is just there that the cell is torn open, and the 
immature queen stung to death by the first hatched young 
queen, when the workers decide that the rest are not 
wanted. It is remarkable that the first rivals to be so 
destroyed are those which are nearest maturity, although 
all cells are alike sealed up. 
On the fifteenth to sixteenth day from the laying of the 
egg the perfect female, or a bee destined to be the mother 
of tens of thousands, emerges from the cell, though she is 
not fulfilling her destiny, until being established at the head 
of the old colony or one or other of the after swarms, she 
mates with a drone when about six days old, and on the 
