MANUAL OP THE APIARY. 83 



of them. If the queen finds the cell to her liking, she turns 

 about, inserts her abdomen, and in an instant the tiny egg is- 

 glued, in position (Fig. 26, b) to the bottom of the cell. 



The queen, when considered in relation to the other bees- 

 of the colony, possesses a surprising longevity. It is not- 

 surprising for her to attain the age of three years in the full 

 possession of her powers, while they have been known to do 

 good work for five years. Queens, often at the expiration of 

 one, two, three or four years, depending on their vigor and 

 excellence, either cease to be fertile, or else become impotent- 

 to lay impregnated eggs — the spermatheca having become 

 emptied of its sperm-cells. In such cases the workers usually 

 supersede the queen ; that is they destroy the old queen, ere 

 all the worker-eggs are gone, and take of the few remaining 

 ones to start queen-cells, and thus rear young, fertile and. 

 ■vigorous queens. 



It sometimes happens, though rarely, that a fine-looking 

 queen, with full-formed ovaries, and large spermatheca, well- 

 filled with male fluid, will deposit freely, but none of the eggs 

 will hatch. Eeaders of the bee-publications know that I 

 have frequently received such for dissection. The first I ever 

 got was a remarkably fine-looking Italian, received from the 

 late Dr. Hamlin, of Tennessee. All such queens that I have 

 examined seem perfect, even though scrutinized with a high- 

 power objective. We can only say that the egg is at fault,, 

 as frequently transpires with higher animals, even to the 

 highest. These females are barren ; through some fault with 

 the ovaries, the eggs grown therein are sterile. To detect 

 just what is the trouble with the egg is a very difficult problem,, 

 if it is capable of solution at all. I have tried to determine 

 the ultimate cause, but without success. 



The function of the queen is simply to lay eggs, and thus 

 keep the colony populous ; and this she does with an energy 

 that is fairly startling. A good queen in her best estate wili 

 lay two or tfiree thousand eggs a day. I have seen a queen 

 in my observing hive, lay for some time at the rate of four 

 eggs per minute, and have proved by actual computation of 

 brood cells, that a queen may lay over three thousand eggs in 

 a, day. Langstroth and Berlepsch both saw queens lay at the 

 rate of six e^s a minute. 



