88 Harmony Among the Bees. 
proof that it is sometimes done. Possibly the young larve 
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 hetween the 
queen and neuters. This antagonism is inferred, and I have 
but little faith in the inference, or the argument from it. 
I know that when royal cells are to be torn down, and 
inchoate queens destroyed, the workers aid the queen in 
the destruction. I have also seen queens pass by unguarded 
queen-cells, and yet respect them. I have also seen sev- 
eral young queens dwelling amicably together in the same 
hive. Is it not probable that the bees are generally united 
in whatever is to be accomplished, and that when queens 
are to be destroyed all spring to the work, and when they 
are to live all regard them as sacred? It is true that the 
actions of bees are controlled and influenced by the sur- 
rounding conditions or circumstances, but I have yet to sce 
_ satisfactory proof of the old theory that these conditions 
impress differently the queen and the workers, The con- 
ditions which lead to the building of queen-cells and the 
peopling of the same are: Loss 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 
spermatheca having become emptied; 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 honey 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 larve taken at four-and-a-half days from hatching.) 
In the latter case, 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 excel- 
lent name for this substance, as Dr. A. de Planta has shown 
e 
