Connecticut western news., 1880-09-08
v THE. QUEEN BEE.':
>6f if fBterest, Relating Rfls'ii,,i .,te .1ail. s;,uo a, ,BuSYii Little, Insect4lg -'aaw

IiiO- ut It,F uE --+-A+4sl-'!Y aH ljft%
 |" This most i1nbE inpo oFftant member of, the
 busy comm on wealth, has ojbeen uappro-
 'pfiatelss called the mother bee. L4aJying F Wing Tall the eggs in the hive lshe,iis truly the
 ipaFentof she,entire population.14!!d 1lga g5i .gsE workers. The ancients ln-
 ldaed, ,sharing an' imperfect knewledgeof ttHHag l31e iHfetha pm qqmy these, cotnaRu- ,nities, misnamed herlkiag. conceivngit
 tb be the office of, ,so 'distin gguishYd per
 sonage,,h to, regulate and govern othe
 n1agsesH This erroneous notion, has per Epetua4ed itself inIvarious countries, even. 1 to Our day and we not infred ddentrly Emeat with beakeepeEs who receive: it. witktimplieit faith. Yet; whatever Ibe the special iof some. the large
 majority of intelligent apiarians concur ii tq her the character she can p5ustly claim-that of being the common the family, lSso So long as she is present. in theahiYay all the eggsirfound teet9ap her; .,1he he, truth of I this may readily be asoertained by intro-
 atcihg. an Italian queen among common ihees,4i iryAlIn thellS young. subsequently,
 hatched from her eggs, both workers.
 and drpnes, will wear the ligery. of. the EfoTeigp 'race;s and the old stock will t grad daIsaaaR one of their own
 stakith and ikin 'hobeing otheneeforward, tiEE l,1n .15,nt'ai 'n1; 72l1 n & " s's2
 h.; lt1s thus rendered certain that all the f5eeggs originate with, the queen. 'oo,But as hthaeell mtwhieh gthe adrones are bred
 differ in preadtH and diameter from those I which cradle the workers, and sdfones are
 besides reared at certain seasons only,
 the queen must evidently possess the
 'ablity'to distinguish between the two
 kinds of cells, and to lay male, or female i9eggs at pleasure, according to,the needs, of the col4hy That Thaa she, has this ability
 is am undeniabBe fact, however difficult f 1t may Be to account for or explain it. 1.-The function: ofothe queen is simply to t f lay eggs, md tifus kkeepthe colony popu- Flous; Iandsthis she does with ansenergy that is fairly star tlihfg, It is hothingI'u un7 . common for, 8 good queen to lay 5000, 1 ,egg's.lin 24 hours We may confidently assume that a vigorous queen may annu-
 ally lay from 45o;OOOte 100000 eggs or at least ] ,D0Q, ,tO0,,in the four years that teonsBitute the average duration of a queens lfe,, ,,,lai, i," .,a,i,r u,', g ia, . n
 t! ttHs1A queen is developed from an egg in E1 days in a preeonsRncted,ce cell, but will ifissttel from what is called 2 postLcon-
 strnetaa cell, som metimes as, early asl the FelevenA or twelfth day. Queen cells are
 usually built op the edge of the comb, or taround, an opening in it. 'which'is necesl' st from size and form. as. 1su- Esally the Icombs are too close together to, permit their location e1sewh ere. These llcells extend either sNertically or diago7 1T TnaallJY, down ward, are composed of Wax
 mixed With pollen, anda in size and form | much resemble ,,; fh' peanut, The eggs must be placed in. these cells, either, by
 heaqueen or wofkers;."' Some apiafists
 think flat tha queen Fu meyer places an egg in B queen eeli,obuto'I have no doubt of I the fact facfB, th6hggh" l. never witnessed the ! act.' I have 'frequently scenic in
 thgssg thgsfHg cells, d9glts, 'hnd, without exception, in: llthe exact positionoin which the queen ! w$ys places thef. inr the other cells: ] +Ilknew that when royal cells are toi be f,t f,ttorn' down, and .iticRfoate queens destoy7 J ed; the Wor&ers idrthe queen in this de- ? lstrFlctiDn. have also seen queens pass l By ~5upguarded cells, and yet respect I them: Il have also"seen several young LEiqffeeeanna Eiq teens dwelling anicably together in hthe same hive: ;u..' nlsn "a"3," .4ns " .u T7hhe5qu9saR is larger round the body
 tthan the worker, ;but,not as large;as the
 drohei, is"Hef Her body is longer than that of
 either, gradually stapering to a point! .I3she has q sling, but uses 1t only Hpon meeting a. rival in loyalty. The queen 1 usually leaves the hive only When ac+
 complan yin "a swarm, and when, a, few Fdays old, to meet. the drones; forat the
 purpose of becoming fertile. Once be-
 coming such, she IS so fortJe; T @ao. .