QUEEN DEVELOPMENT. 245 



crease in the time occupied before they leave the 

 cell would heavily handicap the stock, and so 

 decrease its chance of sending off a swarm, thus pre- 

 venting the mother from leaving descendants by her 

 daughters ; and, since bees do not generally produce 

 drones until swarming has for themselves reached 

 probability, she would also have less chance of leav- 

 ing descendants by her sons. 



In closing this chapter, which also terminates one 

 section of our studies, we must be impressed with 

 the mysterious division of labour between queen 

 and worker, the latter fitted to honey and pollen- 

 gathering, wax-secreting, comb -building, nursing, 

 and cleaning, with every tool she can need ; the 

 former, for the duties of maternity, and for these 

 alone, with generative organs fully equipped for the 

 enormous work demanded of them, but that at the 

 expense of all those parts which minister nothing 

 to her proper functions ; all originating, too, in 

 the coalescing germ and sperm cells, endued, so 

 far as the eye of the body or of the mind can 

 carry us, with powers to build up, differentiate, and 

 arrange a mechanism which, though tiny, can make 

 us all exclaim, " We are but of yesterday, and know 

 nothing!" And let us not here fall into a mistake 

 far too common. No natural object receives attention 

 that does not grow in wonderfulness under the opera- 

 tion, and so each one is prone to think that his par- 

 ticular subject of investigation has more in it than 

 any other. We naturalists and bee-keepers, as we 

 watch and study the little insect that has given so 

 much delight, are in no little danger of coming to 



