24 PHYSIOLOGY AND BREBDINO, 



breeding, there is less necessity for econorniziiig heat, and 

 confining all the eggs to one small spot, and some unoccu- 

 pied cells will be found among the brood, and a few will 

 contain honey and bee-bread. But in the breeding season, 

 a circle of cells, an inch or two wide, containing bee- 

 bread, borders the sheets of comb containing brood. As 

 bee-bread is probably the principal food of the young bee, 

 it is thus very convenient. 



When pollen is abundant, and the swarm is in prosper- 

 ous condition, they soon reach the outside sheets of comb 

 with the brood. At this period, wlien the hive is about 

 full, and the queen is forced to the outside combs to find a 

 place for her eggs, it is interesting to witness her opera- 

 tions in a glass hive. I have seen her several times in one 

 day on a piece of comb next the glass. The light has no 

 immediate effect upon her, as she will quietly continue 

 about her duty, not the least embarrassed by curious eyes 

 at the window. I have frequently lifted out a comb on 

 which an Italian queen was engaged in laying, without 

 interrupting her in the least. Before depositing an egg 

 she enters the cell head first, probably to ascertain if it is 

 in proper condition, as a cell part filled with bee-bread or 

 honey is never used. When a cell is ready to receive the 

 egg, on withdrawing her head, she immediately curves her 

 abdomen, and inserts it. After a few seconds she leaves 

 the cell, when an egg may be seen attached by one end to 

 the bottom. It is about one-sixteenth of an inch in length, 

 slightly curved, very small, nearly uniform the whole length, 

 abruptly rounded at the ends, semi-transparent, and cov- 

 ered with a very thin and delicate coat, which will often 

 break at the slightest touch. 



