Marvels of the Universe 679 
emerges a tiny grub ; and 
immediately on its ap- 
pearance the Worker Bees 
deluge it with a thick, 
glistening, white sub- 
stance, jelly-like in char- 
acter, upon which it feeds 
and grows at an amazing 
rate. At the end of five 
days, this grub, which has 
been kept fairly wallow- 
ing in rich nutriment all 
the time, has grown to the 
size, and largely exceeds 
the weight, of a fully de- 
veloped Queen Bee ; and 
the cell has grown with it, 
until its dimensions have 
reached probably those 
of five or six ordinary 
worker-cells. _ Now the 
super-feeding of the grub 
is stopped, the cell is 
sealed over, and the grub 
changes to a chrysalis, 
lying quiet in its cradle 
for nearly a fortnight 
longer, when it becomes 
a fully-grown Queen Bee 
ready and more than Photo bu] i [Tickner Edwardes. 
willing to take up the PRLS ISSN) BS aN Ae 
5 ‘ The Queen Bee laying her eggs, surrounded by her attendants. These will carry off the 
important duties that lie newly-laid egg, deposit it in a cell (right way up), supply it with a store of bee-bread and 
before her. seal up the opening. 
But here very often a check is placed on the ardour of the young princess by the directing powers 
of the colony. If the swarm has issued and the old Queen has left the hive, no obstacle will be placed 
in the way of the young Queen’s emergence from the cell. But times may not be propitious, cold 
and windy weather may prevail; and in that case the issue of the swarm will be delayed, and the 
appearance of the young Queen with it. From the moment when the preparations for her successor 
become an accomplished fact, the old Mother Bee has grown daily more restless and suspicious. 
A fundamental quality in the nature of Queen Bees is their inveterate hatred of one another. Left 
to her own inclinations, the old Queen would long ago have torn down the queen-cell and destroyed 
its occupant. But the royal cell has been zealously guarded by the workers, and now, when all 
preparations for the future are completed, and a crisis has been reached in the affairs of the hive, 
the vigilance of the guard-bees is redoubled. The hostile approaches of the old Queen are sedu- 
lously foiled; at the same time, the attempts of the young one to break from her prison are 
frustrated. A hole is bored in the side of the cell, through which she is fed ; but she will be retained 
a captive until the swarm is gone, and her safety no longer imperilled. , 
The Bees, however, seldom trust the future welfare of the community to one chance alone. The 
young Queen may die, or meet with some mishap at any stage in her development. So the almost 
