OR, MANUAL Olf THE APIARY. 107 



weight of eggs. This, of course, could only be possible as she 

 was fed highly nutritious food, which was wholly digested for 

 her. The larval bee fed the same food doubles in weight in a 

 single day — a further proof of the excellence of this diet. 

 Schonfeld finds that the queen, like the drones, will soon die 

 if she be shut away from the workers by a double wire-cage, 

 even though in the hive and surrounded with honey. The fact 

 that pollen-husks — cuticula — are never found in the queen's 

 stomach, gives added proof of the above fact. The contents 

 are grayish. I never saw a queen void her feces. Vogel 

 reports having seen it, and Mr. Cowan reports to me that he 

 has seen a queen pass a yellowish gray liquid. We also find 

 the queen's alimentary canal comparatively small, though the 

 renal tubules are large and numerous. The queen, like the 

 worker-bees, is developed from an impregnated egg, which, of 

 course, could only come from a queen that had previously 

 mated. These eggs are not placed in a horizontal cell, but in 

 one specially prepared for their reception (Fig. 39, i). The 

 queen-cells (Fig. AS) are usually built on the edge of the comb, 

 or around an opening in it, which is necessitated from their 

 size and form, as usuajly the combs are too close together to 

 permit their location elsewhere. These cells extend either 

 vertically or diagonally downward, are very rough (Fig. 45, c), 

 and are composed of wax cut from the old combs, mixed with 

 pollen (Mr. Cheshire says all kinds of refuse is used in con- 

 structing queen-cells), and in size and form much resemble a 

 peanut. The eggs must be placed in these cells, either by the 

 queen or workers. Huber, who, though blind, had wondrous 

 eyes, witnessed this act of the queen. I have frequently seen 

 eggs in these cells, and without exception in the exact position 

 in which the queen always places her eggs in the other cells. 

 John Keyes, in the old work already referred to, whose descrip- 

 tions, though penned so long ago, are wonderfully accurate, 

 and indicate great care, candor, and conscientious truthfulness, 

 asserts that the queen is five times as long laying a royal egg 

 as she is the others. From the character of his work, and its 

 early publication, I can but think that he had witnessed this 

 rare sight. Some candid apiarists of our own time and coun- 

 try — Si, Gallup among the rest — claim to have witnessed the 



