vii] THE SOCIAL-BEES 99 



in the above fashion behaved in a refractory manner 

 and did not go in as readily as was to be expected : 

 search among the crawling mass brought to light the 

 "queen" who had been held prisoner in a dense ball 

 of clinging bees: so soon as I had put her at the 

 entrance to the hive she walked in, and immediately 

 with one consent, like a regiment of soldiers turning 

 to "right-about," the whole concourse turned their 

 faces to the hive and trooped in after her. 



Once in their new quarters the bees immediately 

 begin to secrete wax and build combs, suspending 

 them from the top, or from bars provided for the 

 purpose ; not infrequently they start comb-building 

 while waiting in their temporary "skep." The "queen" 

 lays an egg in each cell, and as these quickly hatch, 

 the workers undertake the heavy work of feeding the 

 resulting larvae. For this purpose they themselves 

 devour honey and pollen which are worked up into a 

 nutritious "pap" ("chyle food") by their digestive 

 organs, and then regurgitated and administered to 

 the larvae. The "pap" is poured into the cells, so that 

 the larva is actually bathed in it and in all probability 

 absorbs nourishment through the delicate skin as Avell 

 as by the mouth. When, after several moultings of the 

 skin, it becomes full-fed the larva is imprisoned by a 

 porous lid of pollen and wax. It then spins a cocoon 

 within which it pupates, and from which in due course 

 it issues as a young worker bee. For a while the 



72 



