THE HONEY-BEE. 
03 
royalty. We contemplated the possibility of both 
falling in the conflict at the same moment — an in- 
stance of such a calamity having come to our know- 
ledge — and therefore with a view of remedying such 
an evil, if it should occur, and thus of preventing the 
total destruction of the hive, we took a piece of comb 
from another hivej containing worker eggs, and worms 
of the proper age, according to the directions of 
Huber, and fixed it in the experimental hive, that 
the bees might rear for themselves a new queen, 
should the combat terminate with a double death. 
To our astonishment, for at this time both queens 
were alive, we saw the bees next morning busily 
occupied in building a royal cell in the new piece of 
comb. They had demolished two or three cells ad- 
joining the one they had pitched on for the royal 
cradle, and were now eagerly labouring at its enlarge- 
ment, giving it a circular instead of a hexagonal form, 
and bestowing unceasing attention on the larva it 
contained. During the day the royal cell made con- 
siderable progress, and in the afternoon of the day 
following, it extended about lialf an inch vertically. 
Next day, it advanced rapidly ; the worm had attained 
to a great size, and the bees were unwearied in feed- 
ing it. On the fifth day, the cell was sealed, and on 
the fourteenth a young queen w r as hatched ; but her 
enjoyment of life and liberty was very short. She was 
instantly surrounded by a mass of bees, who hemmed 
her in so closely, that but a very small part of her body 
w r as visible. She made mauy painful and unavailing 
struggles to escape, and emitted every minute a plain- 
tive sound. All the while, the reigning queen (for the 
