30 BEES AND BEE-KEEPING. 



was greatly increased after the egg was hatched out 

 and became larva. 



This experiment I have tried time and again, with 

 the same result. There being no queen in the hive, 

 how came the egg in the queen cell, unless the work- 

 ers removed it thither ? That they did this, I' have 

 no i-eason to doubt. If they are capable of doing so 

 in the absence of a queen, is it not reasonable to 

 suppose that they can do so when preparing to swarm, 

 while the queen still remains in the hive ; and fur- 

 ther, that this is the method generally practiced. 



Sometimes the partitions between two or three cells 

 were pierced out and formed into a queen cell. 

 Where there is young larva two or three days old, 

 such are not removed. Cells constructed in this way 

 are generally but a few degrees from a horizontal 

 position ; whilst queens raised from the egg almost 

 invariably occupy a perpendicular position. Query. 

 Does not this offer a solution to the mystery of drone 

 laying queens, they having been but imperfectly de- 

 veloped ? 



DO THE WORKER BEES ACCORD ROYAL HONORS TO THE 

 QUEEN. 



I have failed thus far to discover or observe that 

 any homage was done the queen, unless feeding her 

 may be considered as such ; this I apprehend has 

 been mistaken for that fond caressing which some 

 authors laud so highly. When the true state of the 

 case is understood, it will strip the queen of much of 

 rovaltv with which she has been invested. The s-uard 



