100 THE LORE OF THE HONEY-BEE 
all its six sidesand base being absolutely impervious. 
But the cradle-cell of the queen is not only made 
of a porous material throughout, but it is commonly 
placed at the edge of the comb, where it stands 
out in the full current of ventilation, the air per- 
colating the whole substance of its walls in addi- 
tion to entering freely at the large cell-mouth. 
Thus the main cause of the extraordinary difference 
in the development of the queen-bee and the 
worker is that of treatment; the one being given 
unlimited rich food and oxygen and room to grow 
in, the other receiving only meagre workhouse 
diet, restricted quarters, and little air to breathe. 
Yet, making every allowance for the stimulating 
or retarding effect of these agencies on the young 
female grub, we are still hardly any nearer to a 
solution of the mystery. We are compelled to 
believe that the egg which produces the worker 
is identical in its nature with that from which is 
evolved the queen-bee, because a simple experi- 
ment will at once dispel all doubt on the matter. 
If the egg deposited in the queen-cell be removed, 
and an egg taken from any one of the thousands 
of worker-cells in a hive be put in its place, the 
worker-egg will always produce a fully developed 
and accoutred queen-bee. On the other hand, if 
an egg be taken from a queen-cell and placed in 
a worker-cell, it will as infallibly hatch out into a 
common undersized worker. It would be sufficient 
tax on the credibility if the differences of queen 
