112 HUMBLE CREATURES. 



On her return from her wedding-flighty the queen 

 is received by her faithful subjects with every demon- 

 stration of joy, and shortly afterwards she commences 

 the deposition of eggs, first (as before remarked) of 

 workers, then drones, and lastly of queens ; and, about 

 the beginning of autumn, if the hive be well managed, 

 her fruitful labours give rise to another swarm. 



But by far the most wonderful circumstance in con- 

 nexion with the natural history of the Bee has still 

 to be noticed, and that is the artificial production of 

 a Queen-bee from a Worker-grub, should the hive by 

 any mishap be left without a ruler. 



To the umnitiated, this phenomenon would appear 

 nothing short of a miracle, for it not only seems to 

 necessitate highly developed reasoning faculties in the 

 insect, but would denote that it possesses a much 

 greater influence in the direction and modification of 

 the laws of nature than do we ourselves. 



True it is that we can engraft one species of plant 

 upon another and produce a hybrid, or that we can 

 hatch an egg by artificial incubation ; but is there 

 anything iu our power over nature that will enable us 

 to obtain a result at aU. approaching that of the con- 

 version of a Worker-larva iato a Queen-bee, as per- 

 formed by these insects ? 



Although the operation will always remain a very 

 wonderful one, especially as regards the instinct that 

 guides the Bee in its performance, yet, when it is 

 considered in connexion with the ascertained phe- 

 nomena in the development of the insect, it will lose 



