Account of the Queen Bee. - 63 
within. thefe laft fix years, caufed the bees to 
rear, from eggs taken from common cells, which 
the bees would otherwife have reared up 
for working bees, no fewer than 200 artificial 
Queens; and which Queens laid eggs, that 
came forward to be bees, in the fame manner 
as other Queens, which may, for diftinction’s 
fake, be ftiled natural ones. 
Sometimes, when I have taken the Queen out 
of a hive, and left none but common bees in 
it, after looking for the fpace of fourteen or 
fixteen days, for royal cells, as ufual in fuch 
cafes, I have obferved, that, inftead of Queens 
being produced, there were three or four roy- 
al cells, which contained nothing in them, ex- 
cept that fome of them had a red tough mat- 
ter, ofa hard kind of fubftance, about the fize of 
a pea, which would tear, but would not break : 
while others of them would have contained nei- 
ther egg, maggot, nor chryfalis, but were quite 
empty. Thefe empty cells I fhall, for diftinc- 
tion’s fake, call fal/e royal cells. What was the 
intention of the bees, in rearing thefe falfe royal 
cells, I cannot determine. The bees were fure- 
ly fenfible, that there were no young bees in 
them: and yet they would have allowed them 
to 
