AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
107 
Fig. 13— Drone (magnified.) Fig. 14— Queen (magnified.) 
Wonders of the Bee-Hive. 
Number X. 
We have already spoken of the three different 
orders into which a family of bees is divided, and 
have given “ portraits of the size of life,” of a 
drone, a mother-bee, and a worker. We now re¬ 
produce these individuals on a scale considerably 
magnified which brings their peculiarities more 
distinctly to view, and makes the contrast the 
more marked. What we have to say, however, 
in this present paper has to do chiefly with the 
queen or mother-bee. 
Among the wonders of the bee-hive not yet 
enumerated is the method of supplying the place 
of the queen in case of her accidental loss, or her 
departure with a swarm. There is no necessity 
for having more than one perfect queen in a hive 
at any time, but yet, as no stock can long flour¬ 
ish without one, it is an interesting inquiry how 
her place is to be made good. The absence of a 
queen from the hive even for a short time causes 
a great commotion, and if she were taken away 
from the bees when they were without the requis¬ 
ite means for procuring a substitute, they would 
give way to despair, and would soon run out. If 
on the other hand after her loss they have good 
reason to believe that her place will be filled, their 
excitement subsides, and they pursue their labors 
as cheerfully as if she were actually present. So 
that, although she exercises no authority and 
makes no laws, or judicial decisions, the prosper¬ 
ity of the hive depends upon her presence. It is 
often true in kingdoms that persons are called 
kings and queens, who are so restrained by minis¬ 
ters of state, as to have hardly any more real 
authority than the queen-bee, and such tnonarchs 
are less free to come and go, and do what they 
have a mind to, than their own subjects. 
By referring to page 41, in the February num¬ 
ber of the Agriculturist, our readers will see in 
Fig. 9, the form and size of the royal cells, and ia 
Fig. 8, a, b and n, show how they are connected 
with other parts of the comb. It is still an open 
question whether the queen ever lays an egg in a 
cell where preparations have been already begun 
for royalty. No one supposes that she ever lays 
one in a royal cell that has once been used, or in 
one which has been carried anywhere near to 
completion. Some have thought that instinct led 
her to make some provision for a successor, and 
to lay a number of eggs of the right kind in cells 
particularly adapted to the purpose. Others sup¬ 
pose that this depends entirely upon the instinct 
of the workers, and that they have the knack of 
so nursing the young worms as to produce any 
number of queens that may be necessary to guard 
against accidental loss. 
We have reason to believe that the ordinary 
Worker is but an imperfectly developed mother- 
bee, which on account of the limited quarters in 
which it was born, the coarser food given it, and 
the general management of things, has failed to 
become what it might have been under another 
system of management. Strange as this state¬ 
ment may seem to some, it is well supported by 
careful experiment and observation, and even by 
microscopic investigations. And it is a fact set¬ 
tled beyond all controversy that from ordinary 
brood comb and the eggs laid in common cells, 
the workers can produce perfect queens in about 
two weeks after the loss of the mother-bee is dis¬ 
covered. We have found the interval to vary from 
twelve days and a half to seventeen. It would 
seem then, that whenever the workeis realize 
the necessity of making this provision, they adopt 
the method of nursing which is adapted to the 
full development of the powers and instincts of 
the perfect female bee. 
If this is undertaken while the workers have a 
healthy, productive queen, and when the popula¬ 
tion promises to be overcrowded before long, these 
acom-like cells may be found on the edges of the 
sheet of comb, as represented at a and b, in Fig. 8. 
But when the queen is lost, the outer cells contain¬ 
ing neither brood nor eggs, a cell must be taken 
rearer the middle. The cells are represented as 
pendent generally, a position that Mr. Langstroth 
supposes to be chosen as a mere matter of con¬ 
venience and economy of room, since he has cut 
them out and laid them horizontally without in¬ 
terfering with the growth of the larvae. 
In the observing hive, the gradual progress of 
the work is easily noted. First is seen the en¬ 
largement of a cell containing an egg, or a very 
young worm, at the expense of the cells imme¬ 
diately surrounding it; then it grows rapidly for 
several days, bending downwards by degrees, and 
being incessantly visited by the worker bees who 
bring the “royal jelly ” to the occupant, and seem 
to feel great responsibility concerning it. After 
it has been sealed over they continue to work upon 
its outside walls. When the emergency arises 
that requires such preparations as this, the bees 
usually take the precaution to start several royal 
cells, that if one fails they may fall back cn another. 
Sometimes they do not carry all to completion, 
but destroy the worm and use the cell for honey. 
If these arrangements are carried out while the 
stock have a mother-bee in vigorous condition, 
and the hive is densely populated, it is supposed 
that the new queens are kept within their cells 
until she has taken her departure with a colony 
and left her place vacant for her successor. Some¬ 
times, also, a new hatched queen finds that she 
has younger sisters ready to come out from their 
cells and take her place ; and then it becomes a 
question for the bees to settle, whether she shall 
be allowed to attack them in their cradles or fight 
a duel with them, or shall be compelled to leave 
the hive herself in search of other quarters. 
A case is described in Jardine’s Entomology, 
where a young queen was matured while the old 
one still remained in the hive, but her enjoyment 
of life and liberty was very short. “ She was in¬ 
stantly surrounded by a mass of bees* who hem- 
Fig. 15— Worker (magnified.) 
med her in so closely that but a small part of her 
body was visible. She made many painful and 
unavailing struggles to escape, and emitted every 
minute a plaintive sound. All the while the 
reigning queen occupied herself in laying eggs, 
often within an inch or two of the prisoner, going 
about her avocations with as much of unconcern 
as if she knew her subjects would of themselves 
soon effectually rid her of her puny rival. In two 
hours from her birth, accordingly, the body of the 
young queen dropped lifeless from the dense mass 
of her inexorable guards.” This description may 
be compared with the account given on page 249 
of the last volume, showing the reception given 
to a strange queen when introduced into a hive 
already supplied with one of her peers. 
The queen thus nurtured, on escaping from her 
cradle, is very different from the insects matured 
in the adjacent cells, not only 
in shape and appearance, but 
also in instincts, and habits. As 
a queen she will probably never 
leave the hive except to meet 
the drones, unless she goes with 
a large colony to establish a 
new home. As a worker, she 
would go out every pleasant 
day for honey, or busy herself 
with wax-making and care of 
the brood, for which as a queen 
she has no concern. The worker is short lived 
and is not likely to survive for a twelvemonth. The 
mother-bee continues from three to four years. 
The queen engages in a fight with another queen, 
and never is known to use her sting except against 
a royal rival. I f held in the hand she will bite but 
not sting. The common worker however defends 
itself with its sting against ordinary enemies, but 
bites a strange queen or suffocates her. The dif¬ 
ference of form in the two is illustrated by our 
engravings. The ability of the worker-bees to 
rear a queen in this manner is one of the most re¬ 
markable facts in natural history, and the knowl¬ 
edge of it is of no little importance in bee-culture. 
Occasional instances have been known where 
worker bees, (perhaps those matured in the imme¬ 
diate vicinity of queen cells,) have proved to be 
fertile and have laid eggs, but only drone eggs; 
and students of natural history are now discussing 
the fact announced first by Dzierzon and confirmed 
by Von Liebold in Germany, as well as by Lang¬ 
stroth and Prof. Leidy, in this country, that the 
unimpregnated queen-bee is capable of laying 
drone eggs. This is a curious fact, though simi¬ 
lar to what has been noticed in the aphides, or 
green lice, and is called Parthenogenesis. 
Mr. Langstroth describes an unsuccessful at¬ 
tempt of some bees, which had no worker eggs, 
to rear a queen from drone eggs. “ Two of the 
royal cells were, in a short time, discontinued and 
were found to be empty, while a third contained 
a worm which was sealed over the usual way, to 
undergo its changes to a perfect queen,” Oa 
