CHAPTER XIX. 
THE CONVERSION OF THE EGG OR LARVA OF A 
WORKER TO A QUEEN, 
Tuat the bees do possess the power, when deprived of their queen, 
of supplying the deficiency by converting the larva of a worker into 
a queen, is a fact at this day well known by all scientific apiarians at 
least. 
Schirach has the honor of first making this discovery, though in the 
first instance accidentally, as we might say. He having used smoke 
pretty freely in some of his experiments, which compelled a quantity 
of the bees to leave the hive, and among them the queen. Knowing 
that she had left, and the sad consequences that he supposed would 
follow if she were not returned, he sought diligently for her, but with- 
out success. Next morning he noticed a small cluster of bees near the 
hive that the queen had left, and among them he discovered the queen ; 
he carried her to the hive, when she was surrounded by the bees in 
such a manner as satisfied him that she was their sovereign. And he 
says, ‘What was my astonishment when, wishing to introduce her 
among the combs, I saw the bees remaining, had already planned, and 
almost finished three royal cells. Struck with the activity and saga- 
city of these creatures to save themselves from impending destruction, 
I was filled with admiration, and adored the infinite goodness of God 
in the care taken to perpetuate his works. Having carried away two 
of the cells, to ascertain whether the bees would continue their oper- 
ations, I beheld next morning, with the utmost surprise, that they 
had removed all the food from around the third worm left behind, on 
purpose to prevent its conversion to a queen.” 
Similar experiments have since been made by Huber, and a host of 
other apiarians, and followed by similar results, and the fact is now 
established with all scientific apiarians beyond the possibility of a 
doubt. 
The process adopted by the bees in producing artificial queens is 
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