HISTORY AND PHYSIOLOGY. 35 



in, and it should invariably be placed in a central 

 position in the colony, where the highest degree of 

 temperature is found ; in very full, strong stocks, 

 almost any well covered position with bees will do. 

 I have generally found that the most perfect and vig- 

 orous queens are raised in colonies that were capable 

 of maintaining a uniform temperature in the hive, 

 above eighty degrees Fahrenheit. According to Be- 

 van, it requires the temperature to be seventy degrees 

 and upward to hatch the egg. The influence of tem- 

 perature is very great in developing all varieties of 

 the bee, but particularly so with queens. It is quite 

 easy to place a comb in any movable comb hive 

 containing eggs, from which several queen cells are 

 generally suspended, being about an inch long, and 

 three-eighths of an inch in diameter. When these 

 cells are built about one-third of their length, being 

 similar to the cup of an acorn, the egg is placed in 

 it (as I believe, by the workers), when it hatches and 

 becomes a worm ; it is supplied with royal jelly, in 

 very small particles at first, and increased as the 

 worm or larva seems to require it ; there is generally 

 more given or put into the cell than is consumed. 

 This kind of food is peculiar to the queen cells, and 

 is not found in any other place in or about the hive. 

 Royal larva construct only imperfect cocoons, open 

 behind, and enveloping only the head, thorax and 

 first ring of the abdomen. A curious circumstance 

 occurs with respect to the hatching of the queen 

 bee. When the pupa, or nymph, is about to change 

 into the perfect insect, the bees render the cover of 



