NATURAL HISTORY OF THE HONEY-BEE. 
43 
and religion alike teach us to receive, with becoming 
reverence, all undoubted facts, whether in the natural or 
spiritual world ; assured that however mysterious they 
may appear to us, they are beautifully consistent in the 
sight of Him whose “ understanding is infinite.” 
All the leading facts in the breeding of bees ought to 
be as familiar to the Apiarian, as the same class of facts 
in the rearing of his domestic animals.* A few crude and 
half-digested notions, however satisfactory to the old-fash- 
ioned bee-keeper, will no longer meet the wants of those 
who desire to conduct bee-culture on an extended and 
profitable system. 
The extraordinary fertility of the queen-bee has already 
been noticed. The process of laying has been well 
described by the Rev. W. Dunbar, a Scotch Apiarian. 
“ When the queen is about to lay, she puts her head 
into a cell, and remains in that position for a second or 
two, to ascertain its fitness for the deposit she is about to 
make. She then withdraws her head, and curving her 
body downwards,! inserts the lower part of it into the 
cell : in a few seconds she turns half round upon herself 
and withdraws, leaving an egg behind her. When she 
lays a considerable number, she does it equally on each 
side of the comb, those on the one side being as exactly 
opposite to those on the other as the relative position of 
the cells will admit. The effect of this is to produce the 
utmost possible concentration and economy of heat for 
developing the various changes of the brood !” 
Here, as at every step in the economy of the bee, we 
* “ If it wore possible,” said an nblo Gorman Apiarian, in 1846, “ to ascertain tho 
reproductive process of bees with as much certainty as that of our domestic ani- 
mals, boe-oulturo might unquestionably bo pursued with positive assurance of 
profit ; and would assume a high rank among tho various branches of rural 
iionomy.” 
f She is thus sure to doposit tho egg iu tho selected coll. 
