60 NATURAL HISTORY. [CH. III. 



feet inactivity, it exhibits not only the leers but the 

 wings of the future bee. Thus, in about twenty or 

 one-and-twenty days, the bee acquires its perfect 

 form, and becomes in every respect fitted for its fu- 

 ture labours. When all its parts have acquired their 

 proper strength and consistence, the young - insect 

 pierces with its teeth the waxen door of the prison 

 in which it is confined. 



The different transformations will be best under- 

 stood by the subjoined cut : the first represents the 

 egg stuck to the bottom of the cell by a glutinous 

 matter; its form is oblong. The next gives a view 

 of a cell with the worm hatched and coiled up. The 

 third shows the worm changed into a nymph. 



When quite freed from its cell, it is as yet moist 

 and encumbered with the spoils of its former situa- 

 tion, but the officious bees soon come to its relief; 

 one party is seen to flock around it, and lick it clean 

 on all sides with their trunks, while another band 

 may be observed equally assiduous in feeding it with 

 honey ; others immediately begin to cleanse the cell 

 which the young insect has just quitted, and fit it for 

 the accommodation of a new inhabitant. The young 

 bee soon repays their care by its industry ; for the 

 moment its external parts become dry, it discovers 

 its natural appetites for labour. Freed from the cell 

 and properly equipped for duty, it at once issues from 

 the hive, and, instructed only by its natural instinct, 

 proceeds in quest of flowers, selects only those which 

 contain a supply of honey ; rejects such as are bar- 

 ren, or have been already drained by other adven- 

 turers ; and when loaded, is never at a loss for its 

 way back to the common habitation. After this first 



