HYMENOPTERA. 



359 



When the mother humble bee — which at first was alone and built 

 her house single-handed — has made a certain number of cells, she seeks 

 fo^honey and pollen, and prepares a paste, which she deposits in the 

 future cradles. She then lays six or seven eggs in each. The larvae 

 ! which come from them hve in common, at the same table, under the 

 same tent. The cell is at first only the size of a pea ; it soon 

 becomes too narrow, splits and cracks, and requires to be enlarged 

 and repaired many times, a work of which our industrious insects 

 j acquit themselves with a good deal of care and attention. Before 

 j passing into the pupa state each larva spins for itself a shell or 

 cocoon of very fine white silk. It ceases to eat, remains at first 



! 

 I 



Fig. 334.— Cells from a Humble Bee's nest. 



^rolled up, then expands itself little by little, and changes its skin after 

 Jthree days. It passes fifteen days in the pupa state in a quiescent 

 Icondition. After the normal time has elapsed for it to remain in its 

 ihiding-place, it delivers itself from its mummy-like covering, with the 

 help of the mother or the workers. The humble bee then appears, 

 Irobust, and its body covered with a greyish down. 



When the successive hatchings have furnished to the mother the 

 reinforcement she is waiting for, the workers she has raised occupy 

 themselves in building new cells, and in raising the wall of enclosure 

 which is to protect the nest. This wall, formed of wax, starts from 

 the base, and raises itself, like a vertical rampart, from every point in 

 the circumference. They then surmount this by the first roof, which 

 is flat, supported by some pillars, and in which they have left one or 

 two irregular openings. The whole is finally protected by a hemi- 



