276 



RECREATION. 



that of the favored one are removed. 

 The workers take down the walls 

 between these 3 cells, thus mak- 

 ing 1 large cell. Then, leaving the 

 floors untouched, they raise around 

 the selected grub a cylindrical tube 

 which follows the horizontal plane 

 of the other cells. At the end of 

 the third day, they gnaw away the 

 cells below it, using the wax of 

 which they were formed to construct 

 a pyramidal tube, which they join at 

 right angles to the horizontal one. 

 The diameter of the tube diminishes 

 gradually from base to apex. 



During the 2 days that the grub 

 inhabits this cell a bee may be 

 always seen with her head thrust in. 



DRONE AND CELLS. 



When one quits another takes her 

 place. These bees keep lengthening 

 the cells as the grub grows older, 

 and they keep on feeding it, placing 

 the food within its mouth. The 

 grub moves in a spiral direction, 

 slowly working itself downward, 

 until it arrives at the orifice, when 

 it is ready to assume its pupa state; 

 then the workers close the opening. 

 Thus, by simply enlarging a cell and 

 feeding a worker grub on food of a 

 certain kind, they change the sex 



of that particular individual. They 

 thus give to this otherwise unfertile, 

 and in a measure, sexless creature, 

 the organs, form, and desires of a 

 perfect female, endowed with all 

 the qualifications necessary to per- 

 petuate the race. The queens reared 

 in this manner from workers larvae 

 differ in one respect from those 

 reared from true female larvae — 

 they are deaf and dumb. 



Before the queen emerges from 

 her cell a perfect insect 16 days 

 must elapse. She remains in the 

 e gg 3 days; when hatched, she 

 feeds, as a grub, 5 days; when cov- 

 ered over by the workers she com- 

 mences to spin her cocoon, and this 

 takes another day. She remains 

 quiet for 2 days and 16 hours and 

 then assumes the pupa state, which 

 lasts exactly 4 days and 8 hours— 

 thus making, in all, 16 days. The 

 young bees, unlike ants, do not 

 require assistance when emerging 

 from their cells. They grow through 

 the lids on top of the cells and thus 

 come into the world unassisted. 



The queen will allow no rival near 

 her throne. If permitted by her 

 subjects, she would put to death 

 every young queen in the hive before 

 it emerged from its cell. The bees 

 permit this if the community is 

 small, and there is no necessity for a 

 swarm to go forth. When the col- 

 ony is large and emigration necessary, 

 the old queen leaves the hive at the 

 head of the swarm, and a new queen 

 reigns in her stead. It sometimes 

 happens that two young queens 

 emerge from their cells at the same 

 time. When this occurs they im- 

 mediately engage in battle, and 

 fight until one is killed. The sur- 

 vivor puts to death all the other 

 young queens that may remain in 

 their cells. These young females 

 make continuously a piping noise, 

 like the squeak of a very young- 

 mouse. The reigning queen is ren- 

 dered furious by this cry, and, if 

 permitted, rushes to the royal nur- 

 sery and plies her sting till all is 

 silent. The workers stand passively 

 by and watch these murders. 



