QTJKEN REARING. 253 



CHAPTER VIII. 



Queen Rearing. 



489. We have shown (109) that when a colony is de- 

 prived of its queen, tlie beos soon raise anotlier, if they 

 have worker eggs or young larvce. 



In general, they select, first, some of the oldest among 

 those whose milky "pap" has not yet been changed for 

 coarser food (107). Such a selection is wise, for the older 

 the larva is, the sooner the colony will recover a queen. 



490. But some Apiarists fear that the bees will secure 

 poorer queens, if they use larvse, for they suppose that the 

 food given to these during the first three days, may be dif- 

 ferent from the food given to the queen-larvae, although it 

 looks the same, and for this reason, they prefer to raise 

 their queens, from the egg. 



491. A learned bee-keeper, of Switzerland, Mr. De 

 Planta, has made comparative chemical experiments, on the 

 milky food which is first given to the larvie of drones, queens, 

 and workers, and has ascertained that this food is composed 

 of the same substances for all, albumen, fat, sugar, and 

 water, and that the only difference is in the proportions of 

 these substances. Yet he concludes that these variations 

 are but accessory, and not premeditated by the bees. 



We think that these conclusions are right, for Mr. De 

 Planta, to get a sufficient quantity of this food, had to take 

 it from different hives, and at different seasons of the year ; 

 and as this milky food is apparently the product of glands, 

 (64), as is the milk of our cows, the proportions of sub- 

 stances in the " milk " of bees, may vary, as they do in the 

 milk of cows, which contains more or less caseine, fat, sugar, 



