Page:Jardine Naturalist's library Bees.djvu/68

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64
THE SENSES OF BEES.

sary for their being hatched, the heat will of course penetrate to the other side, and some portion of it would be wasted if the cells on that side were either empty, or filled only with honey. But when both sides are filled with brood, and covered with hive-bees, the heat is confined to the spot where it is necessary, and is turned to full account in bringing the young to maturity. See Pl. IX. Fig. 1. in which a, b, c, represent that part of the comb in an experimental hive where the observation was made, which was filled with brood, the rest of the square being, with the exception of the uncoloured part, sealed honey. On the opposite side, the brood comb was exactly of the same figure, insomuch that on the narrowest inspection I could hardly discern one cell which contained brood while its opposite contained honey; e, Royal Cell, containing a larva nearly ready to be sealed up; f, form of the Royal Cell at the time of the egg being deposited in it; g, ditto, when sealed, and just before hatching takes place; i, ditto, after the young Queen has been hatched; h, ditto, with a ragged opening in the broadside through which the dead body of a young Queen, destroyed by the Queen regnant, has been dragged out by the bees.

The mutual aversion of Queens is a striking feature in the natural history of this insect; and though not perhaps strictly in place, one extraordinary effect of it may be mentioned here. Their mutual enmity may be truly said to be an in-born disposition with them, for no sooner has the first of the race in a hive about to throw off a second swarm, escaped from her own cradle, than she hurries away in search