72 THE LORE OF THE HONEY-BEE 



but freely admit the air. Here and there the 

 young bees have awakened from their transform- 

 ing slumber, and are clamouring at the stoppings 

 of their prenatal tombs, gnawing their way out 

 vigorously, or thrusting forth red, glistening, 

 ravenous tongues, eager to end their long fast. 

 Where these raw youngsters have at last won 

 their way into existence, they can be seen 

 assiduously grooming themselves, or searching 

 the neighbouring comb for honey, while the 

 nurse-bees are busy cleaning out the cells, just 

 vacated, to make them ready for the queen when 

 she comes by on her next egg-laying round. 



And all these operations are going forward 

 simultaneously on an incredibly large scale. 

 Certain amazing scraps of information are given 

 to the wondering on-looker, which he hears, but 

 can, at this stage in his progress, seldom rightly 

 estimate. He is told that the queen is the only 

 mother-bee in the colony, large as it is ; that, in 

 the prime of her maternity, she will lay as many 

 as 3,000 eggs a day ; and that she has the power 

 to produce either male or female eggs, or none at 

 all, at will. He is told that, except when she leads 

 forth the swarm, she goes out of the hive only 

 once in her life, and this is her wedding-trip. On 

 this one occasion she has traffic with the drone 

 somewhere incredibly high up in the blue air and 

 sunshine of the summer's day; and that immediate 

 death is her suitor's invariable portion ; that she 

 returns at once to the hive, and thereafter for the 



