PHYSIOLOGY AND BKEEDING. 45 



would prove to bo drones in worker cells. The result was 

 just what was .expected — one half were drones. (This 

 queen was lost on introducing her into a fuU colony.) I 

 have noticed, and no doubt others who have raised queens 

 in the small boxes also have, that from the first eggs 

 that the queen deposits, before her body is enlarged by 

 the accumulation of eggs, there are many drones, even in 

 the worker cells. 



There are two sides to this question. The queen "either 

 knows when she is about to lay drone eggs, or she does 

 not. If it is admitted that she does, another question im- 

 mediately arises, do the workers know it also ? When- 

 ever the condition of the colony is such that drones may 

 be wanted, we find them preparing for them. If they 

 have no cells made, and there is room in the hive, they 

 construct them ; if they are made, they cut them down, if 

 they had been used for honey, and otherwise prepare them 

 for the eggs. Do they do this because the queen has im- 

 parted to them the knowledge of her wants just then, or 

 is it the result of common instinct ? The hive, at such 

 times, is sufficiently populous for the bees to cover the comb 

 and maintain the requisite heat. They are getting a sup- 

 ply of honey from the flowers, and simultaneously all good 

 stocks rear drones. The stimulus of obtaining the honey 

 seems adequate to produce the result. It is not necessary 

 that the honey should be obtained from the flowers at the 

 time. Sometimes it may have been stored the previous 

 year, or a large quantity may have been fed, and then 

 strong colonies will rear "drones a month in advance of the 

 season. We can stimulate a strong colony to rear drones 

 throughout the season, even as late as October, by keeping 

 up sufficient warmth, and a liberal supply of food. I have 

 frequently raised Italian drones out of the honey yielding 

 season, when the natives were mostly destroyed, for the 

 purpose of serving queens reared out of season. There 



