62 
TL1H HIVE AND HONEY-BEE. 
is a native, it would have established itself in some cavern 
or capacious cleft in the rocks, and would soon have 
become so powerful as to bid defiance to all attempts to 
appropriate the avails of its labors. 
It has already been stated that none, except the mother- 
wasps and hornets, survive the Winter. Had these in¬ 
sects, like the bee, been able to commence the season 
with the accumulated strength of a large colony, they 
would, long before its close, have proved an intolerable 
nuisance. If, on the contrary, the queen-bee had been 
compelled, solitary and alone, to lay the foundations of a 
new commonwealth, the honey-harvest would have disap 
peared long before she could become the parent of a 
numerous family. 
The process of rearing Queen-Bees will now be more 
particularly described. Early in the season, if a hive 
becomes very populous, the bees usually make prepara¬ 
tions for swarming. A number of royal cells are begun, 
being commonly constructed upon those edges of the 
combs (PI. XIV., a, b, c, d), which are not attached to the 
sides of the hive. These cells somewhat resemble a small 
pea nut (PI.XIII., Figs. 49, 50), and are about an inch 
deep, and one-third of an inch in diameter: being very 
thick, they require much wax for their construction. They 
are seldom seen in a perfect state after the swarming 
season, as the bees, after the queen has hatched, cut them 
down to the shape of a small acorn-cup. (PI. XIV., c.) 
Those queen-cells, while in progress, receive a very unu¬ 
sual amount of attention from the workers. There is 
scarcely a second in which a bee is not peeping into them ; 
and as fast as one is satisfied, another pops in her head to 
report progress, or increase the supply of royal jelly. 
Their importance to the community might easily be 
