114 THE LORE OF THE HONEY-BEE 
allow the whole future welfare of the colony 
to depend on a single life alone. Therefore not 
one queen has been raised, but several. As 
many as five or six queens may be ready to hatch 
out in different parts of the brood-nest, and none 
of them will be permitted to break from her cell 
until the appointed time arrives. For each the 
cradle now becomes a prison. A small hole is 
bored in the cell-wall, through which the impatient 
captive is fed, pending the day when she is to be 
allowed her liberty; and close guard and watch 
is kept over each cell to save it from the violence 
of the old queen, who is becoming hourly more 
restless and suspicious. 
The complete subjection of the mother-bee to 
the ruling worker-class in the hive receives here 
a striking confirmation. She is a true exemplar 
of a prevailing kind of femininity—comely of 
person, untutored in mind, an inveterate stay-at- 
home, a prolific mother; and now there awakens 
in her the sounding chord of jealousy. Left free 
to act on her own impulses, she would soon bring 
about a speedy end to all the careful, long-sighted 
preparations within the hive. She would tear 
open each royal cell, and with one thrust of the 
curved, cruel scimitar that queen-bees use only on 
their equals in rank, its occupant would be ruth- 
lessly despatched, and her own supremacy rein- 
stated. But an impassable barrier stops the way— 
the collective will of the hive. The violent delight 
