BROOD RAISING. 1 1 



wax and pollen. After this, the grub gradually becomes 

 more and more like a bee, until the twelfth day from the 

 sealing over, and the twenty-first day from laying the egg it 

 bites away the capping of the cell, and walks forth a perfect 

 insect. The worker bees rapidly become worn out with the 

 wear and tear of brood raising, and, notwithstanding the 

 hatching of the young bees, the stock daily becomes weaker 

 in bees until about the end of April, when the tide turns, 

 and the population begins to increase, slowly at first, but 

 afterwards more rapidly, and it becomes overcrowded. The 

 bees now make preparations for emigrating, or swarming, as 

 it is called by bee-keepers. The first step in this direction 

 is the raising of drone brood, the eggs for this purpose being 

 deposited by the queen in cells slightly larger than those 

 used for worker brood. Beyond this, nothing is known of 

 the power which enables the queen to lay drone or worker 

 eggs at will. The drone passes through the same stages as 

 the worker, but takes about three days longer (or twenty- 

 four days in all) from the laying of the egg until it becomes 

 a perfect insect. When the drones are seen taking their 

 noisy flights, it may be taken as a proof that the bees are 

 very well satisfied with themselves and their prospects, and 

 that they contemplate an early departure. As the queen 

 must go with the swarm in order to found a new colony, it 

 becomes necessary to provide a successor, and this leads to 

 one of the most wonderful transformations in the whole 

 range of animated nature. The workers select a certain 

 number of the eggs (generally those laid near the edges of 

 the combs) laid by the queen, and enlarge the cells to about 

 the size of the cup of an acorn. When the grub hatches, 

 instead of being fed in the ordinary way, it is nourished 

 with a highly concentrated food, called, for want of a better 

 name, royal jelly. As the grub increases in size, the edges 

 of the cup are drawn out until the eighth day, when the cell 

 is sealed over, in which state it is not unlike the acorn of an 

 oak in appearance. Very soon after the sealing of the queen 

 cells, if the weather is fine, the bees make up their minds to 

 leave the hive. On the day of their departure, a most 

 unusual air of listlessness pervades the hive and its surround- 

 ings. The bees hang in great clusters about the hive-front 



