Page:The Zoologist, 1st series, vol 1 (1843).djvu/187

Rh thrown out of the hive: upon this I examined the hive, when I perceived that the three queen-cells had been destroyed. I was not fortunate enough to discover the living queen, she having secreted herself amongst the interstices of the comb. On the 13th, about noon, I had the gratification of seeing a queen bee on the wing; after flying about for a few minutes she entered the hive. There was no drone on the wing at the time, nor had I previously seen any make their appearance from my hives, nor could I afterwards learn that those of my neighbours, within some distance, had at that early period shown any drones. The following day, at noon, her Majesty again came forth, and was absent for some time: I observed her to go in and out of the hive several times, the working bees paying her no attention. I did not examine the hive until the 27th, when I had the satisfaction of finding brood in various stages: some of the cells were sealed up, but I was rather surprised to observe that several of the worker-cells contained drone brood intermixed promiscuously. In due course of time the young bees were hatched, and amongst them were several small drones, only a trifle larger than the workers. On the 13th of June a swarm unfortunately selected the roof of a house for their domicile, and in attempting to dislodge them from this situation, the queen bee received so much injury, as to cause her death on the following day; I therefore added this swarm to the stock that had raised their queen. The increased numbers enabled them to progress rapidly, so much so that on the 10th of August I took a cape of delicious honey, weighing 12¼ lbs.; and in the following October this stock weighed 35 lbs., including the hive. This proved an ample supply of honey for their winter's consumption, for on the 13th of the present month (March) it weighed 23½ lbs., 11½ lbs. having been consumed during a period of six months. The hive is now in good health, and very strong in bees. In the early part of the spring of 1839 one of my hives sustained the loss of their queen, which they endeavoured to replace, there being at the time plenty of eggs &c. in the hive, by converting a common into a royal cell; and they eventually succeeded in hatching a queen, just fourteen days after they had sustained their loss, but she was so weak that she did not live more than a day or two: this weakness I suspect was owing to the absence of a sufficient supply of royal jelly at that early period of the year. I had several times tried this experiment, but could not before succeed. I remain, Dear Sir, Yours very truly,

To the Editor of 'The Zoologist.'