THE QUEEN. 41 



"He often wished, the better to accomplish his vast, unlim- 

 ited views, for a year of perpetual heat and light to perfect his 

 inquiries; with a polar night, to reap all the advantages of 

 them by proper drawings and descriptions." 



96. The name of queen was then given to the mother bee, 

 although she in no way governs, but seems to reign like a be- 

 loved mother in her family. 



97. She is the only perfect female in the hive, the laying 

 of eggs being her sole function; and so well does she accom- 

 plish this duty, that it is not uncommon to find queens who 

 lay more than 3,500 eggs per day, for several weeks in suc- 

 cession during the height of the breeding season. In our 

 observing hives we have seen them lay at the rate of six eggs 

 in a minute. The fecundity of the female of the white ant 

 is, however, much greater than this, being at the rate of 

 sixty eggs a minute; but her eggs are simply extruded from 

 her body, and carried by the workers into suitable nurseries, 

 while the queen-bee herself deposits her eggs in their appro- 

 priate cells. 



98. This number of 3,500, that a good queen can lay per 

 day, will seem exaggerated to many bee-keepers, owners of 

 small hives. They will perhaps ask how such laying can be 

 ascertained. Nothing is easier. Let us suppose that we have 

 found a hive, with 1,200 square inches of comb occupied by 

 brood. As there are about 55 worker-cells to the square inch 

 of comb (217), 27 to 28 on each side, we multiply 1,200 by 

 55, and we have 66,000 as the total number of cells occupied 

 at one time. Now, it takes about 21 days for the brood to 

 develop from the egg to the perfect insect, and we have 3,145 

 as the average number of eggs laid daily by that queen, in 

 21 days. Of course, this amount is not absolutely accurate, 

 as the combs are not always entirely filled, but it will suffice 

 to show, within perhaps a few hundred, the actual fecundity 

 of the queen. 



Such numbers can be found every year, in most of the 

 good colonies, provided that the limited capacity of the hive 

 will not prevent the queen from laying to the utmost of her 

 ability. 



