go Cause of Fertile Workers. 
jelly, from their position near a developing queen. As the 
workers vary the chyle for the several larve as Dr. Planta 
has shown, may they not sometimes make a mistake and 
feed queen chyle to workers. Surely in caring for so 
many young, this would be very pardonable. Langstroth 
supposes that they receive some royal jelly, purposely given 
by the workers, and I have previously thought this reason- 
able and probably true. But these pests of the apiarist, and 
especially of the breeder, almost always, so far as I have 
observed, make their appearance in colonies long queenless, 
and I have noticed a case similar to that given by Quinby, 
where these occurred in a nucleus where no queen had 
been developed. May it not be true that a desire for eggs 
stimulates in some worker, which was perhaps over-fed 
as larva, the growth of the ovaries, growth of eggs in the 
ovarian tubes, and consequent ability to deposit? The com- 
mon high-holder, Colaptes auratus—a bird belonging to 
the wood-pecker family, usually lays five eggs, and only 
five; but let cruel hands rob her of these promises of future 
loved ones, and, wondrous to relate, she continues to lay 
more than a score. One thus treated, here on the College 
campus, actually laid more than thirty eggs. So we see 
that animal desires may influence and move organs that are 
generally independent of the will. It may be that in 
queenless colonies the workers commence to feed some 
worker or workers, the rich nitrogenous food, and thus 
their ovaries are stimulated to activity. 
The larval queen is longer, and more rapid of develop- 
ment than the other larve. When developed from the 
egg—as in case of normal swarming—the larva feeds for five 
days, when the cell is capped by the workers. The infant 
queen then spins her cocoon, which occupies about one 
day. The fibrous part of the cocoon, which is also true of 
both drone and worker larva, is confined to the outer end, 
as is easily seen by microscopic examination. Yet a thin var- 
nish continues this over the whole interior of the cell. 
This latter becomes very thick in worker cells, as many 
bees are reared in each cell, while in the queen cell it is 
thin, as but one bee is reared in each cell. A similar varnish 
coats the cocoons of all silk moths. This may be the con- 
