ii 



As soon as the cells are finished the queen or fertile female runs over the surface of 

 the combs and lays an egg in each cavity, and she is attended by a host of workers wlio 

 take care that only one egg 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 larva;. The eggs are not long in 

 being hatched. From the moment when the larva comes out of the egg until that of its 

 metamorphosis into a pupa, it keeps in its cell, motionless as an Indian idol. The work- 

 ing bees visit it from time to time. In from three to five days the larva; are developed ; 

 tliey have absorbed all their pap, and have no need from that time of any nourishment, 

 for they are now about to change to pupae. The nurses now pay them a last attention, 

 they wall them up in their cells, closing the openings with a waxen covering. In thirty- 

 six hours they have spun for themselves a silken cocoon in which they undergo their 

 transformation. The perfect. insect is ready in seven or eight days to appear in broad 

 daylight ; it breaks through the thin transparent covering in which it is swathed ; then 

 •with its mandibles it pierces the door of its prison and issues forth. It soon becomes 

 strong, and if it is a worker it is not long in getting to work and mixing with its com- 

 panions in labour. Queens require sixteen days from the laying of the egg before they 

 are ready to emerge from their cells ; workers require twenty ; and drones require twenty- 

 four. The rearing and birth of the queen differs from that of others. In proportion 

 as their larva' increase in size do the workers enlarge the cells which contain them, and 

 then again gradually diminish their size as the moment of their last change approaches. 

 A special and peculiar food is given to the larva; that are to form the queens, it is heavier 

 and sweeter than that given to the other larvae. The food and the situation appear to be 

 the causes which decide the nature of the forthcoming insect, as when the hive becomes in 

 any way queenless the workers choose a larva which, in ordinary circumstances, would be- 

 come a worker, and by alterations in its dwelling and by supplying it with royal food ulti- 

 mately produces a perfect female or queen. As soon as they have quited their cradles, the 

 young queens are ready for flight ; Ijut the workers and males are less strongly organized, 

 they require a rest of about a day before taking part in the sports and labours of the 

 older ones. 



When hatching has begun, each day adds some hundreds of young bees to the popu- 

 lation of the hive, which soon becomes too small , and then occur those remarkable emi- 

 grations called swarms. When this remedy becomes necessary, the inhabitants become 

 excited, drop their work, and the agitation becomes general ; the queen runs from place 

 to place, but does not receive her customary homage ; the workers are no longer attentive 

 to the young brood; the hum increases in intensity, and as if panic striken tiie bees rush 

 from the hive, led or accompanied by a queen. The swarm flies about and soon settles 

 on a suitable branch, forming a deiise mass of living animals supporting each other by 

 the claws of their feet. Sometimes it happens that two queens go out with the same 

 swarm; and the result is that the swarm at first divides into two bodies, one umler each 

 leader but they usually unite again, and wlien the whole are housed the question of so- 

 vereignty is settled by the stronger queen destroying the weaker. Until this great question is 

 decided, the bees do not settle to their usual labour. Two queens in the same hive is some- 

 thing that cannot be endured, and there are many accounts of the singular duels which 

 decide such matters. 



When the colony is thoroughly organized, and the members are beginning to accum- 

 ulate provisions, a most singular tragedy takes place. The drones or males are no longer 

 wanted, and they must be got rid of. The massacre is performed by the workers, who 

 seize the drones, pull them by their legs, wings, or antenna;, and finally kill them with 

 their stings. The pitiless executioners do not spare even the larva; and pupae of the 

 males. The slaughter goes on for several days or until all the males are killed, they not 

 being able to defend themselves as they have no stings. In two cases the drones are not 

 destroyed — when the queen lays only male eggs, and when the hive is without a queen. 

 But we have said little as yet about the most familiar product of the bee — we mean honey. 

 Let us accompany them on tlieir excursions into the fields. On these occasions the prin- 

 cipal object of the bees is to furnish themselves with three diff'erent materials : the nectar 

 of flowers from which they elaborate honey and wax; the pollen, or fertilizing dust from 

 the anthers of the flowers, of which they make what is called the bee bread, serving as 



