MANUAL 01' THE APIARY. 75 



of whicli cases she was disabled from farther egg-laying. She 

 stings with slight effect. 



The queen, like the neuters, is developed from, an impreg- 

 nated egg, which, of course, could only come from a queen 

 that had previously mated. These eggs are not placed in a 

 horizontal cell, but in one specially prepared for their recep- 

 tion (Fig. 26, i). These queen .cells are usually built on the 

 edge of the comb, or around an opening in it, wliich is neces- 

 sitated from their size and form, as usually the combs are too 

 close together to permit their location elsewhere. These cells 

 extend either vertically or diagonally downward, are composed 

 of wax mixed with pollen, and in size and form much resemble 

 a pea-nut. The eggs must be placed in these cells, either by 

 the queen or workers. Huber, who though blind had 

 wondrous eyes, also witnessed the act. I have frequently 

 seen eggs in these cells, and without exception in the exact 

 position in- wliich the queen always places her eggs in the 

 other cells. John Keys, in the old work already referred to, 

 whose descriptions, though penned so long ago, are wonderfully 

 accurate, and indicate great care, candor, and conscientious 

 truthfulness, asserts that the qiieen is five times as long laying 

 a royal egg as she is the others. From the character of his 

 work, and its early publication, I can but think that he had 

 witnessed this rare sight. Some candid apiarists of our own 

 time and country — B. Grallup among the rest — claim to have 

 witnessed the act. The eggs- are so well glued, and are so 

 delicate, that, with Neighbour, I doiibt the possibility of a 

 removal. The opponents to this view base their belief on a 

 supposed discord between the queen and neuters. This 

 antagonism is inferred, and I have but little faith ip the 

 inference, or the argument from it. I know that when royal 

 cells are to be torn down, and inchoate queens destroyed, the 

 workers aid the queen in this destruction. I have also seen 

 queens pass by unguarded queen-cells, and yet respect them. 

 I have also seen several young queen.s-d'welling 'amicably 

 together in the same hive. Is it not probable that the bees are 

 united in whatever is to be accomplished, and that when 

 queens are to be destroyed all spring to the work, and when 

 they are to live all regard them as sacred ? It is true that 



