CH. III.] THE HIVE BEE. 69 



embarrass, and then destroy each other. Hence, 

 they take care that no cell shall contain more than 

 one egg ; all the rest they remove or destroy. 



The single egg which is left remaining is g^ued 

 by its smaller end to the bottom of the cell, which 

 it touches only in a single point. A day or two 

 after the egg has been thus deposited, the worm is 

 excluded from the shell ; presenting the appearance 

 of a maggot roiled up in a ring, and reposing softly 

 in a bed of whitish-coloured jelly, upon which the 

 little animal soon begins to feed. The instant the 

 little worm appears, t^ie working bees attend it with 

 khe most anxious tenderness ; watching the cell with 

 unremitting care, they furnish the infant insect v/ith 

 a constant supply of the whitish substance, on which 

 it both feeds and lies. These nurses evince for the 

 offspring of another greater affection th£^ many 

 parents show towards their own children. They re- 

 gularly visit each cell at very short intervals, in 

 order to see that nothing be wanting; and they are 

 constantly engaged in preparing the white mixture 

 on which the insect feeds. 



Thus attended and plentifully fed, the worm, inless 

 than ten days' time, acquires its full growth, and 

 ceases to take its usual food. Perceiving that it has 

 no occasion for a farther supply, they perform the 

 last office of tenderness, and shut the little animal 

 up in its cell ; they close the mouth of the aperture 

 with a waxen lid ; and the worm, thus effectually 

 secured against every external injury, is left to 

 itself. 



The worm is no sooner shut up, than it throws off 

 its inactivity and begins to labour ; alternately elon- 

 gating and contracting its body, it contrives to line 

 the sides of its apartment with a soft material, which 

 it spins after the manner of other caterpillars, before 

 they undergo their last transformation. The cell 

 having been thus prepared, the animal passes into 

 the aurelia state ; when, although in a state of per 



