THE QUEEN OR MOTHER BEE. 9 
the example of other authors in using them. The 
fact itself, startling as at first it seemed, has been 
so clearly authenticated that any lurking scepticism 
has disappeared; and, indeed, the principle is now 
so well understood and carried into general use by 
the scientific apiculturist that, in a popular treatise 
on the honey-bee, our object would be imperfectly 
accomplished without entering into a few particulars 
in connection with it. And first, we have the assur- 
ance that the prevalent opinion as to any supposed 
original or generated difference between common 
eggs and those laid for the especial, production of 
queen bees, is founded in error; an altered and 
accelerated mode as to the development of the 
ege being all that is needed for the maturation of 
a perfect female. That we may understand the 
method of procedure on the part of the bees, we 
have to suppose that a hive has been deprived of 
its queen (no matter whether by death or design) 
at a period when eggs or larve, or both, are 
present in the cells: such larve, to answer the 
purpose, being not more than two or three days old, 
for this is essential. Could we at such a juncture 
witness the proceedings of the family, a spectacle 
would be presented of much domestic distress and 
confusion when it had been discovered that the 
hive was queenless. Soon, however, the scene 
changes to the quietude of hope, for the foundation 
of a queen’s cell (and, as a provision against 
possible failure, often of three or four) is com- 
menced by the bees, usually within twenty-four 
hours. They select a worker egg, or else a grub 
