EGG-LAYING. 7 



at liis feet, half the size of his spade-handle. He got a 

 bit of stick and began to poke amongst the drones, when 

 to his astonishment a queen crawled out of the cluster 

 and took wing, followed in a twinkling by all the drones. 

 His statement we believed at the time, and stiU belieye it. 



A great many queens are lost on their marriage-tours; 

 they never return. Whether they fall into water and are 

 thus lost, or lose their way home, or go into the wrong hives, 

 I cannot say ; but most bee-keepers of observation and 

 experience well know that these necessary excursions are 

 not unattended with risk, and sometimes with loss. 



It is well for the bee-keeper that his queens, when 

 timely impregnated, never require the drone again as long 

 as they live. They never again leave their hives for this 

 purpose. It is beHeved that during the first ten days of 

 their lives copulation may take place more than once, 

 but afterwards it never takes place. And this is one of. 

 the most extraordinary things in bee-history. A queen 

 bee lives four years; lays a vast number of eggs — at least 

 2000 a^day — in the heat of summer, for months together, 

 every year. I guess that a healthy fertile queen, during 

 her life, lays at least 800,000 eggs— 200,000 a-year. 

 Now these eggs are all duly fecundated, and capable of 

 hatching into young bees, though the queen never meets 

 a drone after the first few days of her existence. 



EGG-LAYING. 



This commences from six to ten days after impregna- 

 tion takes place. Who can think of the laborious and 

 monotonous Kfe of a queen bee without feeling a little 

 compassion'! This queenly creature leads a Kfe of toil. 

 Six months of the year does she move from comb to combj 

 and from cell to cell, minding her own business. Thus 

 she travels up and down the hive, seeking empty cells in 



