MANAGEMENT OF HONEY BEES. 67 
quire the power of laying eggs. This fact 
was discovered by the naturalist Riem, and 
has been confirmed by Huber. There is, 
however, a very material and hitherto unac- 
counted for difference between these fertile 
workers and perfect queens, the former lay 
the eggs of males only. I would certainly 
have expected, a priori, that a difference be- 
tween thein should exist, because the work- 
ers have fed on the royal jelly only for a 
short time, and because their birth-place is 
so much smaller. But I cannot easily con- 
ceive how these circumstances should be the 
cause of their laying only male eggs. In. 
truth, it appears to be one of those mysteries 
in Bee-economy which, with all my re- 
searches on the subject, I cannot yet unra- 
vel. ‘These fertile workers are never found 
in any hives but such as have lost their na- 
tural queen. ‘The natural term of the work- 
er’s existence does not extend, I think, be- 
yond from twelve to eighteen months. But 
many never reach that period. Showers of 
rain, violent blasts of wind, sudden changes 
