THE QUEEN. 45 
not ordinarily transport the eggs of the queen from one cell 
to another. We shall hazard the conjecture, that, in a 
crowded state of the hive, the queen deposits her eggs in 
cells on the edges of the comb, some of which are afterwards 
changed by the workers into royal cells. Such is a queen’s 
instinctive hatred of her own kind, that it seems improbable 
that she should be intrusted with even the initiatory steps 
for securing a race of successors. 
(For further particulars concerning the raising of large 
numbers of queen-cells, see 515.) 
107. The egg which is destined to produce a queen-bee 
does not differ from the egg intended to become a worker; 
but the young queen-larve are much more largely supplied 
with food than the other larve; so that they seem to lie in 
a thick bed of jelly, a portion of which may usually be 
found at the base of their cells, soon after they have hatched, 
while the food given to the worker-larve after three days, 
and for the last days of their development, is coarser and 
more sparingly given, as will be seen farther on. 
108. The effects produced on the royal larve by their 
peculiar treatment are so wonderful, that they were at first 
rejected as idle whims, by those who had neither been eye- 
witnesses to them, nor acquainted with the opportunities 
enjoyed by others for accurate observation. They are not 
only contrary to all common analogies, but seem marvelous- 
ly strange and improbable. The most important of these 
effects we shall briefly enumerate. 
ist. The peculiar mode in which the worm designed for a 
queen is treated causes it to arrive at maturity almost one- 
third earlier than if it had been reared a worker. And yet, 
as it is to be much more fully developed, according to ordi- 
nary analogy, it should have had a slower growth. 
2d. Its organs of reproduction are completely developed, 
so that it can fulfill the office of a mother. 
3d. Its size, shape, and color are greatly changed; its 
