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The Family: Schirach

Schirach proved by experiment that worker eggs could be transferred to queen cells and developed into queens, by receiving the queen's food.

Huber repeated Schirach's experiments, and numerous bee-keepers and naturalists since that time have verified the conclusion they reached, which, naturally enough, was at first regarded with scepticism.

The "royal jelly," with which all the larvæ are at first fed, is semi-fluid in consistency, and the young bees are surrounded by it as soon as they hatch; indeed, they are partly suspended in it, probably absorbing it through the skin as well as taking it through the mouth.

The queen larva feeds upon "royal jelly" for about five and a half days, while the worker larva receives its less nutritious food for only five days, and the drone larva feeds for about six days.

During this time the bee grows from a tiny egg to about its full size, increasing from twelve to fifteen hundred times its weight, and consuming an amount of food that leaves no opportunity for idleness to the nurse-bees that supply these these ravenous infants.

During the period of growth the larval bee, in common with the larvæ of other insects, finds its skin too small for its body and consequently sheds or casts off the uncomfortable covering half-a-dozen times. These cast-off skins are so extremely fine and delicate that for ages they escaped observation, and until very recent times it was believed the bee-larva did not shed its skin.

Finally, the nurse-bees put a porous cap or cover of wax and bee-bread over the cradle cells, and leave the occupants to their own devices.

Evidently they know the difference between the workerbee and the drone, as they put flat caps over the worker cells and convex ones over the drones.

As soon as they are capped over, the imprisoned infants proceed to spin a delicate cocoon about the upper part of the cell, covering the head and extending partly over the body, the silk for it being supplied by certain glands in the head, and first appearing in the form of a liquid, which, being drawn out through an opening in the lip like thin threads of saliva, hardens into a tough, fine silk. The glands that yield the silk disappear in the adult queen and drone, but in the worker are transformed into the secreting The Family glands by which the larvæ and the queen and drones are supplied with food.

When the cocoon is finished the bee passes into the pupa stage, where it undergoes those marvellous transformations that change it from a legless, wingless, helpless "worm" to a perfect bee with its wonderful sense organs, its highly developed nervous system, its gossamer wings, and other organs.

At the end of the pupa stage the bees bite through the caps to their cells, and come forth to take their share in the outer world.

The whole period from the laying of the egg to maturity in the queen is about fifteen and a half days, in the worker twenty-one, while the drone requires twenty-four days to complete his metamorphosis.

When about to come forth the young queen begins to " pipe," - a sound that greatly agitates the queen-mother, who thus recognizes a rival.

Only one queen is tolerated in the hive at a time, and when a young one hatches the old queen kills it or else the bees "swarm;" that is, the old queen departs with the greater part of the older bees, leaving her daughter to assume the responsibilities of future generations.

As soon as this daughter finds herself free from her cradle cell, her first impulse is to dispose of possible rivals, and she deliberately uncaps any remaining queen cells and demolishes the innocent occupants by stinging them.

If two queens come forth at the same time, there is trouble indeed, and a duel immediately ensues which ends only with the death of one.

The queen stings only queens, and seeks to penetrate her rival between the rings of the abdomen, as the parts there are so soft that she can readily withdraw her sting uninjured. She may be handled and teased to any extent without being provoked to use her weapon, which is as well her ovipositor, or egg-laying instrument, and which she will not run the risk of losing. It is larger than that of the worker, but is straight instead of curved, and but slightly barbed. Her poison-sac is small and less developed. - Aristotle knew of the queen's sting and tells us, "the kings and rulers have a sting which they do not make use of, and some persons suppose they have none."

Butler says: - "The spear she has is borne rather for show and authority than for any other use. For it belongeth to her subjects as well to fight for her as to provide for her."

Seneca, on the contrary, informs us that " their king hath no sting," and proceeds gravely to give us the reason: "Nature would not have him cruel nor to seek revenge that might hazard his life, therefore took away his weapon and disarmed his wrath."

He moralizes further : "All kings and princes ought to consider this excellent example." And would have a man's wrath, like a workerbee's, "broken with his own weapon and have no more means to hurt than once in his life."

Virgil's account of a battle in the kingdom of bees is more spirited than true, as in reality the bees do not help the queen, but stand eager spectators, ready to carry out the body of the slain and pay homage to the victor. "A voice is heard resembling the broken sounds of trumpets. Then in a hurry they assemble, quiver with their wings, sharpen their stings upon their beaks, prepare their sinews, crowd thick around their king and to his pavilion, and with loud hummings challenge the foe." "The kings themselves, amidst the hosts, distinguished by their wings, exert mighty souls in little bodies, obstinately determined not to yield till the dread victor has compelled either these or those to turn their backs in flight." The Family The young queen, having established her right by battle, flies abroad and high in the air, mates, receiving from the drone a supply of fertilizing material which is stored in a small pouch designed for the purpose and the contents of which she is apparently able to use at will, fertilizing some eggs and leaving others unfertilized.

Browning, in his poem entitled "Popularity," refers to the flight of the queen, where Solomon in his robe of gold, sitting upon the throne in a room hung with tapestries of Tyrian blue, is "Most like the centre-spike of gold Which burns deep in the blue-bell's womb What time, with ardors manifold, The bee goes singing to her groom Drunken and overbold."

A new race of bees can be formed in an apiary by removing the queen and introducing another impregnated queen of the desired breed. Since the new queen has power to fertilize her own eggs, her progeny will be pure; and since the workers and drones live but a few months, while the queen lives several years, after one season the hive will be peopled by the new stock. A beehive remains tenanted year after year by apparently the same bees, but as a matter of fact the workers and drones are constantly dying and constantly being renewed. Brief life is here their portion, and they live their few weeks or months and then, dying, make room for the new-comers that are ready to take their places and pass through the same brief period of life on earth.

The queen-bee has great tenacity of life, as well as longevity. She resists the effects of chloroform much longer than either worker or drone, and will often continue alive in conditions that have proved fatal to the workers confined with her.