Page:Jardine Naturalist's library Bees.djvu/97

Rh royalty. We contemplated the possibility of both falling in the conflict at the same moment—an instance of such a calamity having come to our knowledge—and therefore with a view of remedying such an evil, if it should occur, and thus of preventing the total destruction of the hive, we took a piece of comb from another hive, containing worker eggs, and worms of the proper age, according to the directions of Huber, and fixed it in the experimental hive, that the bees might rear for themselves a new queen, should the combat terminate with a double death. To our astonishment, for at this time both queens were alive, we saw the bees next morning busily occupied in building a royal cell in the new piece of comb. They had demolished two or three cells adjoining the one they had pitched on for the royal cradle, and were now eagerly labouring at its enlargement, giving it a circular instead of a hexagonal form, and bestowing unceasing attention on the larva it contained. During the day the royal cell made considerable progress, and in the afternoon of the day following, it extended about half an inch vertically. Next day, it advanced rapidly; the worm had attained to a great size, and the bees were unwearied in feeding it. On the fifth day, the cell was sealed, and on the fourteenth a young queen was hatched; but her enjoyment of life and liberty was very short. She was instantly surrounded by a mass of bees, who hemmed her in so closely, that but a very small part of her body was visible. She made many painful and unavailing struggles to escape, and emitted every minute a plaintive sound. All the while, the reigning queen (for the