108 THE bee-keeper's guide ; 



same. The eg'g's are so well glued, and are so delicate, that, 

 with Neighbour, I should doubt the possibilit)' of a removal 

 except that some persons assert that they have positive proof 

 that it is sometimes done. Possibly the young- larvK may at 

 times be removed from one cell to another. The opponents to 

 the view that the queen lays eggs in the queen-cells, base their 

 belief on a supposed discord between the queen and neuters. 



The conditions which lead to the building of queen-cells, 

 and the peopling of the same are : L,oss of queen ; when a 

 worker-larva from one to four days old will be surrounded by 

 a cell ; inability of a queen to lay impregnated eggs, her sper- 

 matheca having become emptied ; any disability of the queen ; 

 great number of worker-bees in the hive; restricted quarters, 

 the queen not having place to deposit eggs, or the workers 

 little or no room to store honey ; or lack of ventilation, so that 

 the hive becomes too close. These last three conditions are 

 most likely to occur at times of great nectar-secretion. 



A queen may be developed from an egg, or, as first shown 

 by Schirach, from a worker-larva less than three days old. 

 (Mr Doolittle has known queens to be reared from worker- 

 larvffi taken at four-and a-half days from hatching.) In such 

 cases the cells adjacent to the one containing the selected 

 larva are removed, and the larva surrounded by a royal cell. 

 The development of the queen-larva is much like that of the 

 worker, soon to be detailed, except that it is more rapid, and 

 the queen-larva is fed richer and more plenteous food, called 

 royal jelly. This is an excellent name for this substance, as 

 Dr. A. dePlanta has shown (B. B. J., 1887, p. 185) that this 

 royal jelly is different from the food both of the worker and 

 drone larva. It is doubtless digested pollen, as first suggested 

 by Dufour, and so ably proved by Schonfeld. I have fed bees 

 honey with finely pulverized charcoal in it, and found the same 

 in the royal jelly. This could not be true if the latter were a 

 secretion, as the carbon is not osmotic. Dr. Planta's re- 

 searches show that the royal jelly is richer in fatty elements 

 and proteids than the larval food either of the drones or 

 workers; but not as rich in sugar. It contains more albumi- 

 nous material, and much more fatty matter than the food of 

 the drone-larvae. Quite likely evaporation may change the 



