THE QUHEN. 47 



long. All these wonders rest, on the imiireii^nable basis of 

 demonsti-atioii, and instead of beinw vvitiicsscd only by a, 

 seliH't. fow, are lunv, l)y the use of the movable-comb hive, 

 familiar siglits to any bee-keeper who prefers an aequalnt- 

 anee with facts, to caviling and sneering at the labors of 

 others. 



109. The process of rearing queens, to meet some spe- 

 cial emergency, is even more wonderful than the one already 

 described. If the bees have worker-eggs, or worms not 

 more than three days old, they make one large cell out of 

 three, by nibbling away the partitions of two cells adjoining 

 a third. Destroying the eggs or worms in two of these cells, 

 tliey place before the occupant of the other, the usual food 

 of the young queens ; and by enlarging its cell, give it ample 

 space for development.* As a security against failure, they 

 usually start a number of queen-cells, for several days in 

 succession. 



110. Duration of Drvelopment. — The eggs hatch in 

 three days after they are laid. The small worm which is 

 intended to produce a queen, is six days in its larval state, 

 and seven in its transformation into a chrysalis and winged 

 insect. These periods are not absolutely fixed ; being 

 of shorter or longer duration, according to the warmth 

 of the hive and the care given by the bees. In from ten to 

 sixteen daysf they are in possession of a new queen, in all 

 respects resembling one reared in the natural way ; while 

 the eggs in the adjoining cells, which have been developed 

 as workers, are nearly a week longer in coming to maturity. 



111. The Virgin Queen. — Feeble and pale, in the first 

 moments after her birth, the young queen, as soon as she 



* It was a German bee-keeper, Schiraoh, who dlBCOvered that a queen can be 

 raised from a worker-egg. (" The New Natural and Artificial Multiplication 

 of Bees, ' ' Bautzen, 1761 . ) 



t In ten days, if the larva selected is about six days old; in sixteen, if 

 newly-laid e, gs are f elected. 



