him some undigested pollen, a food not granted to the larvae of the workers. At the end of a week his cell is sealed over with a cap that looks more like the crown of a derby hat than a cap, so spherical is it. Cheshire has shown that this cap is an especially fine example of engineering, being girdered by six struts of wax, the apex of the dome being not a skylight exactly, but rather a ventilator for the admission of air. (Plate VIII.)
It has been a question of much dispute whether the workers inspire the queen to drone-raising through building drone comb, or whether she takes the initiative in the matter. Certain it is the bees seem to love to build drone comb, perhaps because it is more easily constructed and requires less wax. It is also a fact that the queen prefers the worker cells, and in the spring or fall when there is little honey coming in, the queen will voluntarily pass drone comb, leaving it empty, and lay eggs in the worker cells, so she evidently knows her own mind. Sometimes when reduced to dire extremity the queen will lay worker eggs in the drone cells, but she does not do this unless the openings of the cells have been previously constricted by the bees. Sometimes also when the conditions are abnormal the queen will lay drone eggs in the worker cells and from these will be developed runty drones, which seem of little account. However, such conditions as these are very unusual.
When the drone is twenty-four days from the egg he cuts a circular lid out of the cap of his cell, and
