48 PHYSIOLOGY OF THE HONEY-BEE. 



has acquired some strength, travels over the combs, looking 

 for a rival, either hatched or nnhatched. 



112. "Hardly had ten minutes elapsed after the yotmg queen 

 emerged from her cell, when she began to look for sealed 

 queen-cells. She rushed furiously upon the first that she met, 

 and, by dint of hard work, made a small opening in the end. We 

 saw her drawing, with her mandibles, the silk of the cocoon, 

 which covered the inside. But, probably, she did not succeed 

 according to her wishes, for she left the lower end of the cell, 

 and went to work on the upper end, where she finally made a 

 wider opening. As soon as this was suflSciently large, she turned 

 about, to push her abdomen into it. She made several motions, 

 in dilferent directions, till she Succeeded in striking her rival 

 with the deadly sting. Then she left the cell; and the bees, 

 which had remained, so far, perfectly passive, began to enlarge 

 the gap which she had made, and drew out the corpse of a queen 

 just out of her nymphal shell. During this time, the victorious 

 young queen rushed to another queen-cell, and again made a 

 large opening, but she did not introduce her abdomen into it; 

 this second cell containing only a royal-pupa not yet formed. 

 There is some probability that, at this stage of development, 

 the nymphs of queens inspire less anger to their rivals ; but they 

 do not escape their doom ; for, whenever a queen-cell has been 

 prematurely opened, the bees throw out its occupant, whether 

 worm, nymph, or queen. Therefore, as soon as the victorious 

 queen had left this second cell, the workers enlarged the opening 

 and drew out the nymph that it contained. The young queen 

 rushed to a third cell ; but she was unable to open it. She worked 

 languidly and seemed tired of her first eflforts."— (Huber.) 



113. Huber did not allow this experiment to go on any 

 further, as he wished to use the remainder of the queen-cells. 

 Had he left these cells untouched, the bees would have fin- 

 ished the work of destruction. 



114. We have noticed repeatedly, that the queen-cells 

 are always destroyed a few hours after the birth of the 

 queen, unless the colony has determined to swarm. In the 

 latter case, the workers prevent the newly-hatched queen 

 from approaching the queen-cells, till she is old enough and 

 strong enough to leave with the swarm. (443.) 



