158 



Insects, 



Note on the power possessed hy Bees to raise a Queen from an Egg 

 destined to produce a Worker, By J. D. Salmon, Esq. 



Godalming, March 21, 1843. 

 Dear Sir, 



It may not be uninteresting to the readers of * The 

 Zoologist' to be satisfied on a point of the economy of the bee, vvliich 

 has been questioned by different writers. I was able, during last 

 spring, to verify the discovery of Schirach, that bees have the power, 

 on the death or loss of their queen, to raise another from an e^^ that 

 would otherwise have produced a worker. One of my hives unfortu- 

 nately lost its queen on the 24th of April, a fact which I accidentally 

 ascertained, by finding her Majesty dead opposite the hive. In the 

 course of the morning the bees discovered their loss, when they be- 

 came very restless, running about the alighting-board, and over the 

 hive in all directions ; and this they continued to do throughout the 

 day, a few only still following their customary employ of carrying in 

 pollen. The next morning I carefully examined the hive, but could 

 not discover that eggs were to be found in any of the cells, all the 

 brood being sealed up. On seeing this, I selected from another hive 

 a piece of comb about four inches square, and full of eggs, and this I 

 carefully placed amongst the other combs. In a short time the bees 

 appeared to be more reconciled to their loss, and some few left the 

 hive and returned loaded with pollen. In my examination of the hive 

 I did not perceive a single drone, although much to my astonishment 

 I had observed several to issue forth from this particular hive as early 

 as the 3rd of March. That these drones had not been residents in 

 the hive during the winter is quite clear, as I had prev iously observed 

 several immature drones cast out, a fact proving that they had been 

 recently hatched : this circumstance had probably some connexion 

 with the death of the queen. On examining the hive on the morning 

 of the 27th, I had the satisfaction of seeing that one queen-cell had 

 been commenced upon the piece of comb which I had introduced 

 the next day the cell was much elongated, and on the 30th it was 

 closed, as was also the case with several other common cells adjoining. 

 It was not until the 4th of May that I again examined the hive, when 

 I discovered there had been two additional queen-cells formed during 

 the interval ; one of them was sealed up, and the other, containing a 

 large grub, remained open : this was sealed up by the following morn- 

 ing, as was the case with all other cells that contained the common 

 brood. On the 10th I found a dead queen, not perfectly mature. 



