Page:Jardine Naturalist's library Bees.djvu/73

 therefore, that, if the larva of a common Bee were fed with the royal jelly, the imperfection in her bodily organs would, as far at least as depended on the nature of the food, be removed, and she would become capable of laying eggs. Now this does occasionally take place; some of the royal food is dropped, probably by accident, into some of the cells adjoining that of the Queen, and the Bees therein reared acquire the power of laying eggs. This fact was discovered by the naturalist Riem, and has been confirmed by Huber. There is, however, a very material and hitherto unaccounted for difference between these fertile workers and perfect Queens,—the former lay the eggs of males only. We would certainly have expected, a priori, that a difference between them should exist; because the workers have fed on the royal jelly only for a short time, and because their birth-place is so much smaller. But we cannot easily conceive how these circumstances should be the cause of their laying only male-eggs. In truth, it appears to be one of those mysteries in bee-economy which, with all our researches on the subject, we cannot yet unravel. These fertile workers are never found in any hives but such as have lost their natural Queen.

The natural term of the worker's existence does not extend, we think, beyond six or eight months. It is the opinion of Dr. Bevan that all the Bees brought into existence at the Queen's great laying in spring, die before winter. But many never reach that period. Showers of rain, violent blasts of wind, sudden changes