Hello Sid and All,

Sid wrote:
> Many, many years ago, at a bee meeting I attended, the lecturer was asked
how   does the queen know which egg to lay. He said she used her antennae as
> callipers to gauge the width of the cell.

There are at least two other theories as to the way the queen decides which
type of egg to lay.

1.  inspection of the cell prior to egg laying with her forelegs (Koeniger
1969,1970)

2. by the angle of her abdomen during oviposition( Hive and the Honey Bee
1992 pg. 80)

Sincerely,
Bob Harrison