HISTORY ANI> PHYSIOLOGY. 58 



and toward the latter part of April would be sur- 

 rounded on three sides by young worker brood, yet 

 not a single egg or young drone could be found in 

 the drone cells. 



Some of my readers will perhaps say that the 

 queen laid eggs in all the cells in the comb indis- 

 criminately, in drone as well as worker cells ; but that 

 the workers would remove them from drone cells. To 

 those who hold this opinion I would say, try the ex- 

 periment, by preparing an observatory hive, and 

 watch the queen when depositing eggs ; and if you 

 see her depositing a single egg in drone cells, al- 

 though you may have them interspersed all through 

 and amongst the worker cells, prior to the time of 

 the general, and I might say simultaneous laying of 

 drone eggs, preparatory to swarming, I will present 

 you with a copy of this work, gratis. 



If it is true that the workers remove eggs from 

 the drone cells and destroy them, as some may sup- 

 pose, until the proper time arrives for rearing drones, 

 it is another strong fact in support of the worker 

 bees controlling the entire economy of the hive. But 

 when the proper season arrives for the great laying 

 of drone eggs, as Bevan calls it, which is generally 

 the last of April or first of May, drone eggs may be 

 found simultaneously in all strong stocks that are or 

 have been similarly situated ; this will be varied by 

 the weather and by the yield of honey. That the 

 queen understands when the proper time arrives for 

 rearing drones, and that no drone eggs are laid prior 

 ^5* 



