122 The Honey-Makers 



white egg, which is glued to the bottom of the cell by one 

 end, the ovipositor of the queen supplying a secretion for 



the purpose. 



Later in the season the workers construct the large 

 queen cells into each of which the queen deposits a fer- 

 tilized egg in all respects like those laid in the worker cells. 



Meantime the queen deposits unfertilized eggs in cells 

 like those of the honey-comb, and these hatch into drones, 

 for curiously enough the drone is the product of an unfer- 

 tilized egg. If for any reason the queen fails to mate suc- 

 cessfully, after a time she begins to lay eggs, but these all 

 hatch into drones, — a calamity as great as the loss of the 

 queen. 



In about three days the eggs hatch into legless, maggot- 

 like creatures, the larvse, or "worms," as the bee-keepers 

 call them, which are now supplied with food by the 

 workers. 



It is the food which makes the difference between the 

 queen and the worker bees, notwithstanding Pliny's roman- 

 tic statement on the subject : — 



" The king, however, from the earliest moment, is of the 

 color of honey, just as though he were made of the choic- 

 est flowers, nor has he at any time the form of a grub, but 

 from the very first is provided with wings." 



This tribute to royalty is more poetical than true, for the 

 "king," like common folk, comes from an egg, and is a 

 " grub " like the others, owing his ultimate superiority to his 

 superior opportunities for gormandizing, royalty in this 

 instance being a product of high feeding. 



Ihe bees feed the queen larva upon a very nutritious 

 food called "royal jelly" secreted by them, giving it to her 

 m unstinted abundance during the whole period of larva- 

 hood. 



Concerning it Benton says : 



