Qiieen GeUs. 69 



edge of the comb, or around an opening in it, which is neces- 

 sitated from their size and form, as usually the combs are too 

 close together to permit their location elsewhere. These cells 

 extend either vertically or diagonally downward, are composed 

 of wax mixed with pollen, and in size and form much resemble 

 a pea-nut. The eggs must be placed in .these cells, either by 

 the queen or workers. Huber, who though blind had won- 

 drous eyes, witnessed the act. I have frequently seen eggs 

 in these cells, and without exception in the exact position in 

 which the queen always places her eggs in the other cells. 

 John Keys, in*the old work already referred to, whose descrip- 

 tions, though penned so long ago, are wonderfully accurate 

 and indicate great care, candor, and conscientious truthfulness, 

 asserts that the queen is five times as long laying a royal egg 

 as she is the others. From the character of his work, and its 

 early publication, I can but think that he had witnessed this 

 rare sight. Some candid apiarists of our own time and 

 country — E. Gallup among the rest — claim to have witnessed 

 the act. The eggs are so well glued, and are so delicate, that, 

 with Neighbour, I should doubt the possibility of a removal 

 except that some persons assert that they have positive proof 

 that it is sometimes done. Possibly the young larvae may at 

 times be removed from one cell to another. The opponents to 

 this view base their belief on a supposed discord between the 

 queen and neuters. This antagonism is inferred, and I have 

 but little faith in the inference, or the argument from it. I 

 know that when royal cells are to be torn down, and inchoate 

 queens destroyed, the workers aid the queen in this destruc- 

 tion. I have also seen queens pass by unguarded queen-cells, 

 and yet respect them. I have also seen several young queens 

 dwelling amicably together in the same hive. Is it not 

 probable that the bees are united in whatever is to be accom- 

 plished, and that when queens are to be destroyed all spring to 

 the work, and when they are to live all regard them as sacred? 

 It is true that the actions of bees are controlled and influenced 

 by the surrounding conditions or circumstances, but I have 

 yet to see satisfactory proof of the old theory that these condi- 

 tions impress differently the queen and the workers. The con- 

 ditions which lead to the building of queen-cells and the 

 peopling of the same are : Loss of queen, when a worker 

 larva from one to four days old will be surrounded by a cell ; 



