Note on the power possessed by Bees to raise a Queen from an Egg destined to produce a Worker. By J.D. Salmon, Esq.
Dear Sir,
It may not be uninteresting to the readers of 'The Zoologist' to be satisfied on a point of the economy of the bee, which has been questioned by different writers. I was able, during last spring, to verify the discovery of Schirach, that bees have the power, on the death or loss of their queen, to raise another from an egg that would otherwise have produced a worker. One of my hives unfortunately lost its queen on the 24th of April, a fact which I accidentally ascertained, by finding her Majesty dead opposite the hive. In the course of the morning the bees discovered their loss, when they became very restless, running about the alighting-board, and over the hive in all directions; and this they continued to do throughout the day, a few only still following their customary employ of carrying in pollen. The next morning I carefully examined the hive, but could not discover that eggs were to be found in any of the cells, all the brood being sealed up. On seeing this, I selected from another hive a piece of comb about four inches square, and full of eggs, and this I carefully placed amongst the other combs. In a short time the bees appeared to be more reconciled to their loss, and some few left the hive and returned loaded with pollen. In my examination of the hive I did not perceive a single drone, although much to my astonishment I had observed several to issue forth from this particular hive as early as the 3rd of March. That these drones had not been residents in the hive during the winter is quite clear, as I had previously observed several immature drones cast out, a fact proving that they had been recently hatched: this circumstance had probably some connexion with the death of the queen. On examining the hive on the morning of the 27th, I had the satisfaction of seeing that one queen-cell had been commenced upon the piece of comb which I had introduced: the next day the cell was much elongated, and on the 30th it was closed, as was also the case with several other common cells adjoining. It was not until the 4th of May that I again examined the hive, when I discovered there had been two additional queen-cells formed during the interval; one of them was sealed up, and the other, containing a large grub, remained open: this was sealed up by the following morning, as was the case with all other cells that contained the common brood. On the 10th I found a dead queen, not perfectly mature,
