NATURAL HISTORY OF THE HONEY BEE. 73 



When provision has been made, in the manner described, 

 for a new race of Queens, -the old mother, (See Chap, on 

 Swarming,) always departs with the first swarm, before her 

 successors have arrived at maturity. 



Artificial Rearing op Queens. 



The distress of the bees when they lose their Queen, has 

 already been described. If they have the means of supply- 

 ing her loss, they soon calm down, and commence the ne- 

 cessary steps for rearing another. The process of rearing 

 Queens artificially, to meet some special emergency, is even 

 more wonderful than the natural one already described. Its 

 success depends on the bees having worker-eggs, or worms 

 not more than three days old* ; the bees nibble away the 

 partitions of two cells adjoining a third, so as to make one 

 large cell out of the three. They destroy the eggs or worms 

 in two of these cells, while they place before the occupant 

 of the third, the usual food of the young Queens, and build 

 out its cell, so as to give it ample space for development. 

 They seldom confine themselves to the attempt to rear a 

 single Queen, but to guard against failure, start a considera- 

 ble number, although the work on all except a few, is often 

 soon discontinued. 



In twelvet or fourteen days, they are in possession of a 

 new Queen, precisely similar to one reared in the natural 

 way ; while the eggs which were laid at the same time in 

 the adjoining cells, and which have been developed in the 

 usual way, are nearly a week longer in coming to maturity. 



The beautiful representation of comb which I here present 



* Some Apiarians believe that the worms may be older, 

 t I once had two Queens hatched in eleven days after the old Queen 

 was removed. 



7 



