260 FRANSFOJ^MATIONS OF INSECTS. 



small, some are slightly larger, and a few are of considerable 

 size, and are usually at the ends of the combs. The smallest 

 are for the larvae of workers, the next size will be filled by those 

 of males, and the largest cells will contain queens or fertile 

 females.. 



As soon as the cells are finished the queen or fertile female 

 of the colony, or swarm, runs over the surface of the combs and 

 lays an egg in each cavity, and she is attended by a host of 

 workers, who take care that only one Qgg is dropped into each 

 cell. Should two fall in, one is pulled out and destroyed. When 

 the laying is finished the work of the queen is at an end, and she 

 does not concern herself in any way about the future larvae, or 

 the attentions of the workers to them. 



The larvae are hatched in three days, and the workers im- 

 mediately begin to take charge of them. It is possible that 

 the oldest workers (those that cannot build or carry honey 

 so well as others) are particularly the nurses,^ and they feed the 

 larvae, as in the case of other Hyjnenoptera. The larvae grow 

 rapidly, and make a silken cocoon for themselves before under- 

 going metamorphosis. The cocoon, as usual, shuts up the cell. 

 The larvae resemble those of other nest-making Hymenoptera, 

 but they are less developed and weaker, for they cannot seize their 

 own nourishment when it is brought to them, and they have to 

 be fed from the mouth of the nurse. 



There are two theories concerning the origin of the female and 

 worker bees. One very doubtful one is as follows ; and the other 

 can be best understood by referring to Von Siebold's researches 

 on Polistes gallica, already mentioned. 



The bees produce fertile or sterile females (workers), accord- 

 ing to their will, and probably the feeding of the larvae has much 

 to do with the development into egg-bearing or sterile insects. 

 Now and then it happens that the larvae of workers (sterile bees), 

 which are located in cells near that of a fertile female larva (a 

 future queen) receive, more or less accidentally, some of the 

 particular nourishment intended for their important neighbour. 

 The small quantity of royal food alters the condition of the de- 

 velopment of the reproductive organs in the workers, and they 

 become more or less able to lay. When a hive has lost its 



