244 BEES AND BEE-KEEPING. 



continues to take nourishment through a part of the 

 skin. We thus see that, when the murderess arrives, 

 nothing but the thick cell side, of impure wax, inter- 

 venes between her and her victim ; the cast skin, 

 which is extremely delicate, is absent as a lining, it 

 is true, but the cocoon is placed as in all other cells. 

 Huber investigated the periods of evolution for the 

 sexes — matters, the details of which must be treated in 

 our Practical Section ; but his results, which are con- 

 stantly given in bee books, are only approximations, 

 for, directly we attempt to systematically follow up the 

 inquiry, we find that considerable variations present 

 themselves : in one hive the worker bees gnawing 

 out, on an average, on the twentieth day after the 

 egg is laid, and in another not until the twenty-first ; 

 eggs in the same hive, and of the same hatch, 

 especially those of drones, taking unequal times for 

 evolution : while the seasons of the year also make 

 a difference. Huber found that queens required six- 

 teen days to mature, workers twenty-one, and drones 

 twenty-four. But even within the hive, I find the 

 queens can, by management, be delayed so as to 

 require nearly eighteen days, the workers twenty- 

 five, and the drones twenty-eight ; while, by re- 

 moval from the hive, a more considerable retardation 

 may be occasioned. The more rapid normal de- 

 velopment of the queen is highly interesting, and 

 its reason is evident. As queens figh t, the first 

 _hatrhed has the best chance of being t he survivo r, 

 so that there is a constant sele ction in favour of 

 t hose rapidly maturing . There is, in a modified 

 ""cfegree, a similar selection of workers, for any in- 



