KATURAL HISTORY OF THE HONEY-BEE. 
43 
and religion alike teach ns 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 con.sistent 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-fiish- 
ioned bee-keeper, will no longer meet the w.ants 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 Apiari.an. 
“ 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 h.alf round upon herself 
and withdraws, leaving .an egg behind her. When she 
lays a considerable number, she docs 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 wero possible,*' said an able Gorman Apiarian, in 1846, “ to ascertain the 
reproductive process of boos with ns much certainty as that of our domoptic anl- 
mtilB, boo-culturo might unqviostionably bo pursued with positive assurnneo of 
profit; an«l would assume a high rank among the various branches of rural 
• lonoiny.” 
t Bile is thus suro to deposit the egg iu the selected coll. 
