32 PHTSIOLOGT AND BEEEDIKG. 



the mature bee, is not over twenty-five days at most ; hence 

 all that are in the cells now, must have been put there by 

 the queen within the last twenty-five days ! This gives an 

 average of nearly 1500 per day ! 



It is common to find estimates that a single female will 

 lay from 70,000 to 100,000 in a season. One says 90,000 in 

 three months ; most writers are apt to confound the number 

 matured with the number laid. Let the number laid be 

 what it may, thousands are never perfected. During the 

 spring months, in medium and small stocks where the bees 

 can protect but few combs with animal heat, I have often 

 found cells containing a plurality of eggs, two, three, and 

 occasionally four in one cell. These supernumeraries must 

 be removed, and may frequently be found in the dust on 

 the bottom board.* 



Another portion of eggs is wasted whenever a supply of 

 their food fails. If we remove the bees from a stock dur- 

 ing a scarcity, when the hive is light, we will be very likely 

 to find hundreds of eggs in the cells and only very few ad- 

 vancing from that stage toward maturity. I have thus 

 found it in autumn, in July, sometimes the first of June, 

 and in fact, at any time when the maturing of the brood 

 would be likely to exhaust their stores, and endanger the 

 supply of the family. Now instead of the fertility of the 

 queen being greater in the spring and first of summer 

 than at other times, as we are often told, I would suggest 

 that a greater abundance of food at this season, and a 

 greater number of empty cells, may be the reason that 

 more bees are matured. 



*This is a goodlestof the presence of a queen. Sweep off the board clean , anj 

 look a day or two after, for these eggs. Take care lliat ants or mice have no 

 chance to get them ; they are as fond of eggs fur brejikfiist as any one, and might 

 deceive you l)y removing the eggs. Wlien any eggs or immature bees are found, 

 DO furtiier proof of the presence of a queen is needed. 



