210 THE FAIRY-LAND OF SCIENCE. 
She goes outside the hive and hovers about a little 
while, and then comes in again, and though generally 
the bees all look very closely after her to keep her 
indoors, yet now they let her do as she likes. Again 
she goes out, and again back, and then, at last, she 
soars up into the air and flies away. But she is not 
allowed to go alone. All the drones of the hive rise 
up after her, forming a guard of honour to follow her 
wherever she goes. 
In about half-an-hour she comes back again, and 
then the working bees all gather round her, knowing 
that now she will remain quietly in the hive and 
spend all her time in laying eggs : for it is the queen- 
bee who lays all the eggs in the hive. This she 
begins to do about two days after her flight. There 
are now many cells ready besides those filled with 
honey : and, escorted by several bees, the queen-bee 
goes to one of these, and, putting her head into it, 
remains there a second as if she were examining 
whether it would make a good home for the young 
bee. Then, coming out, she turns round and lays a 
small, oval, bluish-white egg in the cell. After this 
she takes no more notice of it, but goes on to the next 
cell and the next, doing the same thing, and laying 
eggs in all the empty cells equally on both sides of 
the comb. She goes on so quickly that she some- 
times lays as many as 200 eggs in one day. 
Then the work of the nursing bees begins. In two 
or three days each egg has become a tiny maggot or 
larva, and the nursing bees put into its cell a mixture 
of pollen and honey which they have prepared in their 
own mouths, thus making a kind of sweet bath in 
