17 
If, during the progress of the egg from the lar- 
va to the nymph state, the mother queen dies, and 
there are no eggs in the royal cells, then the bees 
have recourse to the queen eggs that are laid in 
the common cells. By enlarging the entrance, 
and by attaching to it a cell which hangs verti- 
cally, they continue the life of the larva, and a 
queen bee is formed. Here is no work of trans- 
formation. The insect is already formed, and 
nothing remains to be done but the mere mechan- 
ical operation of building a habitation which shall 
be adequate to its wants. 
The peculiar organic construction of the queen 
bee undoubtedly requires a difference of food, as 
we perceive it does of dwelling. 
No doubt it is necessary to supply it more 
abundantly, and with greater care. The very po- 
sition it is compelled to take, shows that it requires 
a different kind of nurture, from either the com- 
mon bee or the drone. It is wonderful that in- 
stinct is so competent to direct these changes ; but 
it would be more wonderful if, in addition to this 
instinct, the bee had the power to construct ncio 
organs , as it does different cells, and thus to en- 
dow the insect with a different nature. 
Another point unsettled, and which is likely to • 
remain forever a secret, is, whether the eggs ol the 
queen are hatched after the manner of the eggs of 
fish, whether they simply are animated by incuba- 
tion, or by the care and nourishment bestowed on 
them by the working or neuter bees. 
On this point, experiment has proved nothing* 
The greatest diversity of opinion exists. There 
are upwards of a thousand writers on the history 
and policy of the bee, yet no two have either ob- 
served or reasoned alike. 
2 * 
