NATURAL HISTORY OP THE HONEY BEE. 47 



in the breeding of bees ought to be as well known to the 

 bee keeper, as the same class of facts in the rearing of his 

 domestic animals. A few crude and hasty notions, but half 

 understood and half digested, will answer only for the old 

 fashioned bee keeper, who deals in the brimstone matches. 

 He who expects to conduct bee keeping on a safe and profit- 

 able system, must learn that on this, as on all other subjects, 

 " knowledge is power." * 



The extraordinary fertility of the Queen bee has already 

 been noticed. The process of laying has been well describ- 

 ed by the Rev. W. Dunbar, a Scotch Apiarian. 



" When the Queen is about to lay, she puts her head into 

 a cell, and remains in that position for a second or two, to 

 ascertain its fitness for the deposit which she is about to 

 make. She then withdraws her head, and curving her body 

 downwards,+ inserts the lower part of it into the cell : in a 

 few seconds she turns half round upon herself and with- 

 draws, leaving an egg behind her. When she lays a con- 

 siderable number, she does it equally on each side of the 

 comb, those on the one side being as exactly opposite to 

 those on the other as the relative position of the cells will 

 admit. The effect of this is to produce the utmost possible 

 concentration and economy of heat for developing the various 

 changes of the brood !" 



Here as at every step in the economy of the bee, our 

 minds are filled with admiration as we witness the perfect 



* "If it were possible," said an able German Apiarian, in 1846, 

 " to ascertain the reproductive process of bees with as much certainty 

 as that of our domestic animals, bee culture might unquestionably be 

 pursued with positive assurance of profit ; and it would then assume 

 a high rank among the various branches of rural economy." 



t In this way she is sure to deposit the egg in the cell she has 

 selected. • 



