90 BEES AND WASPS [OH. 



out in the first cell devour the slight store of food 

 which it contains, and require to be fed by their 

 parent. For this purpose a small hole is made in the 

 lid of the cell, and through this the mother discharges 

 food from her mouth for the benefit of her offspring. 

 As the larvae increase in size they distend the cell in 

 a number of irregularly bulging pockets, so that it 

 now appears a very misshapen affair. When the 

 larvae are full-fed they spin a fine silken cocoon and 

 pupate within the cell, but not simultaneously in any 

 one cell although the eggs from which they arose 

 were all deposited at approximately the same time ; 

 neither do all the perfect bees issue fi-om a given cell 

 at the same date, even if all are of the same sex. 

 These first cells all give rise to small females 

 ("workers"), whose escape from the cell is made easier 

 by the parent bee removing the wax with which the 

 cocoons are covered. As with the social-wasps so 

 too with the humble-bees, as soon as the foundress 

 of the society has reared a batch of "workers," she 

 seldom if ever quits the nest, but henceforth confines 

 herself to the work of egg-laying : in some cases she 

 actually loses the power of flight. With the increas- 

 ing strength of the working staff of the establishment 

 the number of cells is quickly increased; but the 

 architectural skill of the Bombi is of a very low order 

 Avhen compared with that of either social-wasps or 

 honey-bees, for the building proceeds upon no definite 



