GENERAL CIIARACTEKISTIOS. 17 



weigh 270 grains. So tliiit a good queen, for days or even woelcs* 

 in suooossion, would deposit, every twonty-four hours, between 

 six and nine grains of liiglily-develoiied and extremely rich tissue- 

 forming uiattor. Taking the lowest estimate, she then yields the 

 ineredible quantity of twiee her own weiglit daily, or more accu- 

 rately four times, since at this period, more than half her weight 

 consists of eggs. Is not the reader ready to exclaim : \Vlaat 

 enormous powers of digestion she must possess ! and since pol- 

 len is the only tissue-forming food of bees, what pellets of this 

 must she constantly keep swallowing, and how large must be the 

 amount of her dejections! But what are the facts '? Dissection 

 reveals that her eliyle stomach is smaller than that of the worker, 

 and that at the time of her highest ettbrts, often scarcely a pollen 

 grain is discoverable within it, its contents consisting of a trans- 

 parent mass, microscopically indistinguishable from the so-called 

 " royal jelly " ; while the most practiced bee-men say they 

 never saw the queen pass any dejections at all. These contradic- 

 tions are utterly inexplicable, except upon the theory I propound 

 and advocate. She does pass dejections, for I have witnessed 

 the fact; but these are very watery." —(Cheshire.) 



Thus acjording to Cheshire, the food eaten by the queen, 

 during egg-laying, is already digested and assimilated by 

 tlie bees, for her use. Her dejections which are scanty 

 and liquid, are licked up by the workers, as are also the de- 

 jections of the drones, if not too abundant. 



41. The other two pairs of glands, which are common to 

 workers, queens, and dxones, evidently produce the saliva. 

 The functions of both must be the same, for they unite in 

 the same canal (sd, 2, 3, fig. 6), terminated by a valvule, 

 which, passing though the mentum or chin (mf), opens at 

 the base of the tongue. The saliva produced by them is 

 used for different purposes. It helps the digestion; it 

 changes the chemical condition of the nectar (246) har- 

 vested from the flowers ; it helps to knead the scales of wax 

 (201) of which the combs are built, and perhaps the pro- 

 polis (236) with which the hives are varnished. It is used 



• These facts have been demonstrated so repeatedly, that they are as well 

 established as the most common laws in the breeding of our domestic animals. 

 2 



