52 NATURAL HISTORY OF THE HONET BEE. 



prolific. Mr. Wagner says, " I conceive that she has the 

 power of regulating or repressing the development of her 

 eggs, so that gradually she can diminish the number matur- 

 ing, and finally cease laying and remain inactive, as long as 

 circumstances require. The old Queen appears to qualify 

 herself for accompanying a first swarm,* by repressing the 

 development of eggs, and as this is done at the most genial 

 season of the year, it does not seem to be the result of at- 

 mospheric influence." 



It is certain that when the weather is unfavorable, or the 

 colony too feeble to maintain sufficient heat, a smaller num- 

 ber of eggs are matured, just as unfavorable circumstances 

 diminish the number of eggs laid by the hen ; and when the 

 weather is very cold, laying usually ceases altogether in weak 

 colonies. In the latitude of Philadelphia, I opened a strong 

 stock, on the 5th day of February, and found an abundance of 

 eggs and brood, although the Winter had been very severe, 

 and the temperature of the preceding month quite low. 

 The Fall of 1852 was warm, and eggs and brood were found 

 in a hive examined on the 21st of October. Strong stocks 

 in well protected hives, even in cold climates, usually con- 

 tain some brood, every month in the year. 



It is highly interesting to see how the supernumerary eggs 

 of the Queen are disposed of. When the number of workers 

 is too small to take charge of all her eggs, or when there is 

 a deficiency of bee bread to nourish the young, or when, for 

 any reason, she does not judge best to deposit them in the 

 cells, she stands upon a comb, and simply extrudes them 

 from her oviduct, and the workers devour them as fast as 

 they are laidl This I l^ve repeatedly witnessed in my 

 observing hives, and admired the sagacity of the Queen in 



* Huber had noticed the reduced size of the Queea before swarming, 

 but attributed it evidently to a wrong cause. 



