46 BEES AND BEE-KEEPING. 



well known, also, that the nest is begun in the spring 

 by a single bee, which is fertile and capable of laying 

 eggs, from which a brood is raised, and ere long 

 quite a colony is found. The same phenomenon 

 occurs with hornets, yellow jackets and wasps, all of 

 which are closely allied to the honey bee. It is quite 

 evident that the queen, or the female, which starts 

 the nest and deposits the first eggs, has been im- 

 pregnated the fall previous, and when once fertile it 

 serves for life. 



But to return to the honey bee. If the queen 

 should be confined to the hive, even amidst a seraglio 

 of drones, she would continue barren ; but she usually 

 takes her flight about the second or third day after 

 leaving the cell, commonly from twelve to two 

 o'clock, generally preceded by the drones. After 

 traversing the alighting board for a few moments, 

 she flies back and forth in front of the hive, until 

 reaching the top of the covering or shed, when she 

 describes small circles at first, gradually enlarging ; 

 after thus surveying her locality, and noting carefully 

 the surrounding objects (apparently for the purpose 

 of enabling her to reach home when she would make 

 her final excursion), she returns to the hive, again 

 alighting and traversing the alighting board, passing 

 into the hive and out again in front, when finally she 

 rises aloft in the air, describing in her flight hori- 

 zontal circles of considerable and gradually increasing 

 diameter, and soars at last to such a height as to 

 render it impossible to follow her movements. She 

 generally returns from her aerial excursion in about 



