1 EIPE-HISTORY OF S078BU0S 3 
an 
means of this arrangement the queen, sitting in her 
groove facing the honey-pot—this seems to be her 
favourite position, though sometimes she reverses 
it—is able to sip her honey without turning her 
body, and at the same time she is in an excellent 
position for guarding the entrance from intruders. 
After a period of rest the larve change to pupe, 
heads uppermost. About the twenty-second or 
twenty-third day after the eggs are laid the per- 
fect worker bees are formed, and, biting a hole 
through the tops of their cocoons, they creep out, 
those in the cocoons in the middle of the groove, 
which have been kept warmest, emerging a day or 
two earlier than those at the sides. In the work of 
biting open her cell the emerging bee is generally 
assisted by the queen or workers, and she makes 
several attempts to get out before the orifice is 
large enough to permit her thorax to pass through. | 
Should the weather be cold or incubation be in- 
terrupted, the duration of all the stages of develop- 
ment is lengthened. Insufficient feeding also delays 
the larval stage. Thus the time occupied from the 
laying of the egg to the emergence of the bee some- 
times extends to a month. 
The coat of the freshly emerged bee is matted 
and stuck down with moisture, and is of a uniformly 
dull silvery-grey colour. Her legs are weak and 
unsteady, and almost the first thing she does is to 
totter to the honey-pot, where she slowly unfolds 
her proboscis and takes a sip of the life-supporting 
drink. Then, refreshed and strengthened, she 
