PHTSIOIiOGY. 51 



considerably resembling that of the silk worm's. The 

 young queen does not come forth from her cell until she is 

 quite mature ; and as its great size gives her abundant room 

 to exercise her wings she is capable of flying as soon as she 

 quits it. While still in her cell she makes the fluttering and 

 piping noises with which every observant bee keeper is so 

 well acquainted. 



Some Apiarians have supposed that the queen bee has 

 the power to regulate the development of , eggs in her 

 ovaries, so that few or many are produced, according to the 

 necessities of the colony. This is evidently a mistake. 

 Her eggs, like those of the domestic hen, are formed with- 

 out any volition of her own, and when fully developed, 

 must be extruded. If the weather is unfavorable, or if the 

 colony is too feeble to maintain sufficient heat, a smaller 

 number of eggs are developed in her ovaries, just as un- 

 favorable circumstances diminish the number of eggs laid 

 by the hen ; if the weather is very cold, egg-laying usually 

 ceases altogether. In the latitude of Philadelphia, I opened 

 one of my hives on the 5th day of February, and found 

 an abundance of eggs and brood, although the winter had 

 been an unusually cold one, and the temperature of the 

 preceding month very low. The fall of 1852 was a warm 

 one, and eggs and brood were found in a hive which I ex- 

 amined on the 21st of October. Powerful stocks in well 

 protected hives contain some brood, at least ten months in 

 the year ; in warm, countries, bees probably breed, every 

 month in the year. 



It is highly interesting to see in what way the super- 

 numerary eggs of the queen are disposed of. When the 

 number of workers is too small to take charge of all her 

 eggs, or when there is a deficiency of bee bread to nourish 

 the young, (See chapter on Pollen,) or when, for any rea- 



