Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 3.djvu/513

Rh precipitately out of the hive, and seek for their lost queen in every direction This state of confusion continues for a day or two, after which tranquillity is again established ; they return to their labours; and, selecting an egg, or one of the larvae that is not more than three days old, they break down two of the contiguous cells, sacrificing the larvae con tained in them, and proceed to build up one royal cell from their ruins. They then supply the worm with the food necessary to promote its quick growth, and leaving untouched the rhomboidal bottom they raise around it a cylindrical enclosure In three days the larva has grown to such a size as to require an extension of its lodging, and must inhabit a cell nearly of a pyramidal figure, and hanging perpendicularly. A new pyramidal tube is there fore constructed with the wax of the surrounding cells, which is soldered at right angles to the first, and the bees, working downwards, gradually contract its diameter from the base, which is very wide, to the point. In proportion as the worm grows, the bees labour in extending the cell, and bring food, which they place before its mouth and round its body, forming a kind of coiled zone around it. The worm, which can move only in a spiral direction, turns incessantly to take its food before its head; it insensibly descends, and at length arrives at the orifice of the cell. It then transforms itself into a pupa, is enclosed with a covering of wax, as before described, and, in the space of ten to sixteen days the original loss is thus repaired by the birth of a new queen. Schirach found that, if a number of bees be confined with even a single larva, which in the natural course would have become a worker bee, they immediately set about giving it the royal education above described, and thus raise it to the dignity of queen.

The discovery that queens may be reared at will has been confirmed by recent experiment, and is now largely taken advantage of by apiarians both in Europe and America, to facilitate the making of artificial swarms and otherwise increase the production of bees. By the aid of small frame hives called nucleus boxes, which only materi ally differ from the larger or mother hive by containing frames less in number and in size (generally three), a stock of fertile queens is kept on hand ready to supply any colony requiring a sovereign, or to exchange an old queen for a young one, or a Ligurian queen for an ordinary English one. An example of the method of rearing these queens is as follows : A full comb containing young worker larvae and eggs is taken, with all its attendant bees, and placed in the centre of the nucleus box, flanked on both sides by other combs containing honey. Sufficient young bees, which have not flown, are now added to cover well the brood comb, in order that proper heat may be kept up to mature the brood. As soon as the members of this small com munity find themselves without a queen, a dreadful uproar ensues ; and, probably, should there be bees among them who know their way home, they will desert, but enough will usually remain to carry on the desired work ; if not, more young bees must be added. These may be known by their fresher and greyer appearance. After a few hours the commotion will subside, and the bees will proceed to the construction of royal cells, and take proper care for the feeding and hatching of the larvae selected for royal honours. Generally on the second day, the foundations of royal cells are perceptible, the number of these vary from one or two to as many as sixteen. In from ten to sixteen days, according to the age of selected eggs or larva?, the young queens will arrive at maturity ; and as the first at liberty will destroy the others if allowed, the apiarian in good time cuts out the sealed royal cells, which are dis tributed by grafting on other combs into newly-formed nuclei, or into such hives as require a queen. The young queens, on their emergence from the pupa state, are now each at the head of a colony, where they remain until they become fertile in the natural way, and are then ready for such purposes as they are required for.

In Switzerland, Italy, and Germany a large business is done in Ligurian queen-raising for export. Great numbers of those queens come to England and America in little wooden boxes, accompanied by sufficient workers to develop enough heat. The price in Italy varies, according to the season, from five francs in October to twelve francs in March ; but few are raised until May, owing to the difficulty of their obtaining impregnation. To overcome this difficulty in the autumn some colonies are purposely kept queenless, whose drones remain in existence. The advantage of having fertile queens at the bee-master s disposal is very great. When a swarm issues the young queen is not usually mature, and has to become impregnated. Should unfavourable weather ensue, a still further delay occurs ; and the virgin queen, on her excursion, is liable to be lost or killed. Should no such accident occur, it may still be two or three weeks before ovipositing again commences, and this in the very height of the breeding season ; while if the skilful bee-master, first taking the precaution to destroy any existing queen cells, can immediately, on the issue of the swarm, introduce the queen and her retinue from a nucleus hive, no time is lost, and probably 20,000 to 40,000 eggs will be deposited in the time that would otherwise have been lost. By this system of nucleus queen-rearing, it may be fairly calculated that the increase of population may be doubled. While the hive remains without a queen swarming can never take place, be the hive ever so crowded.

Huber has made the singular observation that two queens, however inveterate may be their mutual hostility, never actually destroy each other, and that when in the course of their contest they are placed in such a relative position that each has it in her power to strike a mortal blow on the other with its sting, they suddenly separate, and part with every appearance of being panic-struck. The final cause of the instinct that prompts this conduct is sufficiently obvious, as, without it, the hive would be altogether deprived of a queen.

Bees recognise the person of their own queen. If a stranger enter the hive, they seize and surround her until a ball of bees is formed one or two inches in diameter ; in which imprisonment the unfortunate monarch is kept until death puts an end to her misery, for it is very remarkable the bees seldom sting a queen. A hive that has lost its queen may, however, by certain precautions be induced to accept a substitute. The most common way of attaining success in this operation is to imprison the stranger queen in a small cage of wire gauze or perforated zinc ; this being suspended between two central combs or fixed upon one, the bees become accustomed to the odour and appear ance of their new sovereign, and after the lapse of one or two days will readily accept her. If a supernumerary queen be introduced into the hive, she is laid hold of by the bees and presented to the reigning queen, while a ring is formed by the bees, who continue to be spectators, and even promoters of the combat, in which one or other of the queens is destined to perish. Schirach and Eeims had imagined that, in these circumstances, the stranger met her death from the hands of the working bees, but this mistake has been corrected by Huber, who gives the account above stated.

We have next to relate the results of experiments of a more cruel kind, which illustrate several points in the physiology of these insects. The amputation of the four wings of the queen did not interfere with her laying eggs, and the workers did not show her the less attention on account of her being thus mutilated. Of course, if the 