100 THE LORE OF THE HONEY-BEE 



all its six sides and base being absolutely impervious. 

 But the cradle-cell of the queen is not only made 

 of a porous material throughout, but it is commonly 

 placed at the edge of the comb, where it stands 

 out in the full current of ventilation, the air per- 

 colating the whole substance of its walls in addi- 

 tion to entering freely at the large cell-mouth. 

 Thus the main cause of the extraordinary difference 

 in the development of the queen-bee and the 

 worker is that of treatment ; the one being given 

 unlimited rich food and oxygen and room to grow 

 in, the other receiving only meagre workhouse 

 diet, restricted quarters, and little air to breathe. 



Yet, making every allowance for the stimulating 

 or retarding effect of these agencies on the young 

 female grub, we are still hardly any nearer to a 

 solution of the mystery. We are compelled to 

 believe that the egg which produces the worker 

 is identical in its nature with that from which is 

 evolved the queen-bee, because a simple experi- 

 ment will at once dispel all doubt on the matter. 

 If the egg deposited in the queen-cell be removed, 

 and an egg taken from any one of the thousands 

 of worker-cells in a hive be put in its place, the 

 worker-egg will always produce a fully developed 

 and ,accoutred queen-bee. On the other hand, if 

 an egg be taken from a queen-cell and placed in 

 a worker-cell, it will as infallibly hatch out into a 

 common undersized worker. It would be sufficient 

 tax on the credibility if the differences of queen 



