io6 THE LORE OF THE HONEY-BEE 



portentous symbol. It is a fact, now incontestably 

 proved, that the virgin queen- bee is capable of re- 

 producing her kind, yet only the male of the 

 species. If she is born late in the year, when no 

 drones exist, and her fertilisation is therefore im- 

 possible, or if some imperfection of wing prevents 

 her going out for her mating-flight, she will still 

 set busily to work at her one function of egg- 

 laying; and these eggs will all hatch out into male 

 bees. The same thing occurs in the case of the 

 queenless hive, which, having neither worker-egg 

 nor worker-grub, whose age is under the three 

 days' limit, yet tries to raise a new queen from a 

 larva perhaps four or even five days old. The 

 queen thus created is queen only in name. She 

 may have her ovaries completely developed, but 

 otherwise she will be congenitally destitute. She 

 will have neither the will nor power to receive the 

 drone ; and the eggs that she lays so industriously 

 only add to the crowd of useless males that will 

 soon be the sole representatives of the doomed 

 household. 



Following the progress of a bee-colony through 

 the mounting days of spring, we see, with every 

 week that passes, a larger area of comb occupied 

 by the young worker-brood ; while about the 

 middle of April the queen pays her first visit 

 to the drone-combs, laying a single egg in each 

 cell, as with the rest. It is commonly supposed 

 that the queen is always surrounded by an adu- 



