INHABITANTS OF THE HIVE.—Chapter Vii. 
than the worker or drone cells, 
somewhat resembling a pea- 
nut shell in size and shape. 
They project downward from 
the base, thus being vertical 
instead of horizontal as are 
worker and drone cells. In each 
_ of these specially constructed 
cells an ordinary worker egg is 
deposited. Three days later this 
egg hatches into a little white 
larva, and the worker bees ‘be- 
gin feeding it a rich, milky, 
chyle food, which is supposed 
to be a mixture of pollen and 
honey partly digested, com- 
monly called “royal jelly.” 
If the queen is taken away or 
lost, the bees will build a 
queen-cell over a very young 
worker larva. The workers 
develop a queen rather than 
one of their own kind sole- 
aa, oud ty be taiing of “The queen-cells ea esate SPR and project 
special food. It is probable - 
that, for three days after any larvae are hatched, the same food is fed 
to them as to the larva that is to develop into a queen. But by con- 
tinuing to feed this rich “royal jelly” to the larva during the whole time of 
its growth, a queen is developed; whereas a worker bee is developed by a 
change from “royal jelly” to a coarser food, probably mostly pollen and 
honey, on the third or fourth day of the life of the larva. So it happens 
that workers can not produce a queen unless the colony either has eggs or 
has larvae not older than three days. The exact process by which the worker 
bees by means of feeding develop a queen or a worker bee at choice is not 
yet entirely clear or scientifically explained. After the queen larva has been 
fed for five days on its specially nourishing food, the workers seal up the 
cell, when the queen larva weaves about herself a cocoon and becomes a 
pupa. She remains in the pupal state for seven or eight days. At the 
end of this period she begins to want to get out of her cell; and when 
the worker bees are ready to have her come out they assist her by thinning 
the end of the’ queen- -cell, and with her mandibles she completes the work 
of making the opening and then she comes forth a virgin queen. It ordi- 
narily takes about sixteen days to develop a queen from the time of the 
laying of the egg to the adult stage. After roaming about over the combs 
usually for five or six days as a virgin queen, seeking during this time to 
find and destroy any other virgin queen or queen-cell that may be in the 
hive, she takes her “nuptial” flight in the open, when she meets the drone 
(male bee) and so becomes fertilized for the remainder of her life. She 
very seldom (if ever) leaves the hive again unless it be to accompany an 
87 
