72 THE LORE OF THE HONEY-BEE 
but freely admit the air. Here and there the 
young bees have awakened from their transform- 
ing slumber, and are clamouring at the stoppings 
of their prenatal tombs, gnawing their way out 
vigorously, or thrusting forth red, glistening, 
ravenous tongues, eager to end their long fast. 
Where these raw youngsters have at last won 
their way into existence, the nurses can be seen 
assiduously grooming them, or cleaning out the 
cell they have just vacated to make it ready for 
the queen when she comes by on her next egg- 
laying round. 
And all these operations are going forward 
simultaneously on an incredibly large scale. 
Certain amazing scraps of information are given 
to the wondering on-looker, which he hears, but 
can, at this stage in his progress, seldom rightly 
estimate. He is told that the queen is the only 
mother-bee in the colony, large as it is; that, in 
the prime of her maternity, she will lay as many 
as 3,000 eggs a day; and that she has the power 
to produce either male or female eggs, or none at 
all, at will. He is told that, except when she leads 
forth the swarm, she goes out of the hive only 
once in her life, and this is her wedding-trip. On 
this one occasion she has traffic with the drone 
somewhere incredibly high up in the blue air and 
sunshine of the summer’s day; and that immediate 
death is her suitor’s invariable portion; that she 
returns at once to the hive, and thereafter for the 
