THE BEE. 113 



some of its mystery, but, at the same time, will ac- 

 quire additional interest ; for, let us here remark, that, 

 however marvellous some of the operations of Nature 

 may appear to those who are unacquainted with her 

 laws, her attractive features are considerably enhanced 

 when they come to be more fully understood and 

 appreciated. 



As before observed, the chief differences between 

 the conditions necessary for the rearing of a queen 

 and a worker are, that m the former the egg is de- 

 posited ia a larffe oval vertical cell, and the insect is 

 fed during the whole of its larval existence upon royal 

 paste, a food elaborated by the Bees in their digest- 

 ive organs ; whilst the worker is reared in the ordi- 

 nary horizontal hexagonal ceU., and after a certain 

 number of days (according to most authors, on the 

 third day after its birth), its food is changed, and it 

 is nourished with a mixture of honey and poUen. 

 The result of this modified treatment iu the worker 

 is, that its female reproductive organs, ovaries, &c., 

 are but imperfectly developed j and, as a rule, it is 

 rendered iucapable of oviposition*. 



Now if, instead of feeding these worker-larvse 

 only three days upon royal paste, they were nourished 

 on this species of food during the whole of their larva- 

 hood, and if the other conditions as to dimensions 



* Whether it is, however, that the workers hred in the 

 vicinity of a royal cell sometimes receive royal food in mis- 

 take, or from whatever other cause, it is certain that they occa- 

 sionally oviposit, but in all cases unfertilized eggs, from which 

 drones only proceed. 



