Development of Queen. 71 



gested that fertile workers, while larvae, have received some of 

 this royal jelly, from their position near a developing queen. 

 Langstroth supposes that they receive some royal jelly, pur- 

 posely given by the workers, and I had previously thought 

 this reasonable and probably true. But these pests of the 

 apiarist, and especially of the breeder, almost always, so far as 

 I have observed, make their appearance in colonies long 

 queenless, and I have noticed a case similar to that given by 

 Quinby, where these occurred in a nucleus where no queen 

 had been developed. May it not be true that a desire for 

 eggs stimulates the growth of the ovaries, growth of eggs in the 

 ovarian tubes, and»consequent ability to deposit? The com- 

 mon high-holder, Colaptes auratus — a bird belonging to the 

 wood-pecker family, usually lays five eggs, and only five ; but 

 let cruel hands rob her of these promises of futm-e loved ones, 

 and, wondrous to relate, she continues to lay more than a 

 score. One thus treated, here on the College campus, actually, 

 laid more than thirty eggs. So we see that animal desires 

 may influence and move organs that are generally independ- 

 ent of the will. 



The larval queen is longer, and more rapid of development 

 than the other larvae. When developed from the egg — as in 

 case 'of normal swarming — the larva feeds for five days, when 

 the cell is capped by the workers. The infant queen then 

 spins her cocoon, which occupies about one day. The end of 

 the cocoon is left open. Some one has suggested that this is 

 an act of thoughtful generosity on the part of the queen larva, 

 thus to render her own destruction more easy, should the wel- 

 fare of the colony demand it, as now a sister queen may safely 

 give the fatal sting. The queen now spends nearly three days 

 in absolute repose. Such rest is common to all cocoon-spinning 

 larvae. The spinning, which is done by a rapid motion to-and- 

 fro of the head, always carrying the delicate thread, much 

 like the moving shuttle of the weaver, seems to bring exhaus- 

 tion and need of repose. She now assumes the nymph, or 

 pupa, state (Fig. 15, i). At the end of the sixteenth day she 

 comes forth a queen. Huber states that when a queen 

 emerges the bees are thrown into a joyous excitement, so that 

 he noticed a rise in temperature in the hive from 92° F. to 

 104° F. I have never tested this matter accurately, but I 

 have failed to notice any marked demonstration on the natal 



