80 



CONSTRUCTION OF THE QUEEN'S CELL. 



very circumstance, that depends the early or late departure 

 of the young queen from the hive. It is, however, not a 

 little extraordinary, considering the numerous circumstances 

 which arise from the natural and invariable habits of the 

 bee, and all of which have a direct tendency to disprove the 

 statement of Huber, that he should have ventured to pro- 

 mulgate it so dogmatically, when the detection of its falsity 

 is an every day occurrence in the management of an apiary. 



The cell which is to serve 

 as the cradle of the young 

 queen is constructed on the 

 verge of the middle combs, 

 and in its shape resembles 

 the cup of the acorn, only 

 more contracted at the ori- 

 fice. The figures c d e f 

 represent the queen's cell 

 from its commencement to 

 its completion, when it in a 

 great degree resembles the 

 cocoon of the silkworm. 

 The letter a represents the cells appropriated for the 

 reception of honey, and letter b denotes the combs filled 

 with the brood. The egg of the queen takes about 

 twenty-two days from the time of its emission from the 

 ovarium of the mother queen, until the insect arrives at its 

 maturity. It has been supposed by some naturalists that 

 there is no sexual difference in the egg, but merely in the 

 mode of its fructification, and that instead of all the eggs 

 being fructified by the drones, each is impregnated by 

 its like ; the drone by the drone, the common bee by the 

 common bee, and the queen by herself; and in order to 

 substantiate this hypothesis, some have decided that they 

 have discovered males and females amongst the common 

 bees. 



