BOTANICAL SOCIETY OF CANADA. 
149 
there is no young queen in the hive. But, immediately on her departure, steps are 
taken to supply her place. Sometimes queen's cells are found with ova deposited 
in them, but, more frequently, this is not the case. When there is no such cell, a 
neuter larva, three days old, receives the proper treatment; and in nine days 
it comes forth a perfect queen, and may at once lead off a second swarm. The 
bees, however, are not satisfied with one queen. They generally make three or 
four, with one or two days interval between them. This is obviously to secure the 
succession, and give leaders to more swarms than one, should the year be pro- 
pitious. If the supernumerary queens are not required, they are slain. It was thus 
proved by numerous observations that there is probably only one method of pro- 
ducing queens ; that they all spring from plebeian worms, and are made queens by 
special treatment. Still it is certain, that in some cases ova are deposited in queen's 
cells before the first swarm leaves, and the circumstances that determine this de- 
parture from the general rule, are yet open to enquiry. 
The marvel of this metamorphosis was greatly removed by the minute dissec- 
tions of Miss Jurine, who proved that the workers, or neuters, are really undevel- 
oped females or queens. The production of the queen is thus only the carrying out 
of the process of evolution a step further. 
Another point of enquiry in connection with this subject was the nature of the 
treatment by which a neuter was transformed into a queen. Huber thought all de- 
pended on the food, and that there was a royal jell}'-, quite different from the food 
supplied to neuter bees. The only test of the quality of the food was its taste. He 
thought it more pungent than the ordinary food of bees. This, however, is a de- 
ceptive criterion, as the taste of the syrup or jelly depends on the age of the worm. 
I applied chemical and microscopic tests, but could find no difi"erence in the food. 
The composition of it is, however, not well understood. The bees disgorge it from 
their stomachs into the cell, at the bottom of which the worm is coiled up. It is, 
no doubt, a compound of honey and pollen, but seems to have undergone a diges- 
tive process, for the taste of the honey is gone, and all trace of the pollen cells is 
lost. Finding no clue to the development of the queens in the kind of food sup- 
plied, I next enquired if heat could have anything to do with it. This was sug- 
gested by the position of the royal cell. The queen-worm, as we have seen, is 
removed from its original cell and placed in a new one, in an isolated position ; or,, 
rather, the worm gradually slides into the new receptacle constructed at the mouth 
of the former. If food is the secret of the development, there is no obvious rea- 
son why the worm should not be fed in its original cell ; but if temperature is one 
of the agents, then the isolation of the cell has an unmistakeable meaning. In its 
isolated position, a special heat may be communicated, different from that of the 
other cells, as the bees can cluster all round it and hatch on every side. In the; 
original position, there could be no differential hatching, as only the end of the 
