THE QUEEN OR MOTHER BEE. 5 
longer legs but shorter wings, and is of a tawny or 
yellowish-brown colour underneath. She is further 
distinguished from the workers by having a somewhat 
rounder head, a smaller proboscis, and legs destitute 
of brushes or deposit-baskets; also by a honey-like 
scent. She is supreme in the hive, admitting no rival 
or equal; and is armed with a sting, somewhat more 
curved in form than that of the common bees, which, 
however, she rarely uses. Where she goes the other 
bees follow; and so indispensable is her presence to 
the existence of the commonwealth, that where she is 
not, none will long remain. She is the mother of the 
entire community, her office being to lay the eggs 
from which all proceed, whether future queens, 
drones, or workers. Separate her from the family, 
and she instinctively resents the injury, refuses food, 
pines, and dies. Without a queen, or a prospect of 
one, the labour of the hive is suspended, and a 
gradual dispersion or emigration of the community 
ensues. 
Those who have examined the appearance of a 
beehive after it has been filled with combs during 
a year, will recollect seeing suspended here and 
there certain small inverted cup-shaped forms. 
These are the partially destroyed remains of what 
have constituted or been designed for the birth- 
places of young queens, and are commonly called 
royal cells. They are very much larger than the 
common hexagonal cells in which the working bees 
are bred; and they further vary in their composi- 
tion, the material of which appears to be a mixture 
of wax or propolis and the farina of flowers. 
