36 THE HUMBLE-BEE 11 
away from them. The cocoons, too, are slightly 
larger, for the larvae, nourished by so many nurses, 
grow to a larger size and develop into larger and 
stronger workers. 
As the cell swells with the growing larve the 
bees are careful not to permit its area of attachment 
to the cocoons to grow larger, and they keep clear- 
ing the wax away from here, while to prevent it 
from falling over they fasten it by two or three 
pillars or ties of wax to adjacent cocoons or to the 
roof of the nest. 
The larve of B. terrestris and lucorum do not 
keep together in a compact mass, but as they begin 
to grow large each one acquires its own covering 
of wax, although they do not separate completely ; 
the cocoons, therefore, do not form definite clusters, 
and are easily detached from one another. On 
the other hand, the bunches of larvze and clusters 
of cocoons of B. sylvarum, agrorum, and helferanus 
are very compact and globular, and are often 
arranged in a ring around the centre of the nest, 
crowning the already vacated cocoons, and giving 
the comb a beautifully symmetrical appearance. 
The larve and cocoons of /apidarius also form 
compact masses, but two or more batches of worker 
brood, of nearly the same age, often coalesce as 
the result of their egg-cells being placed in line in 
contact with one another, consequently the clusters 
are often large and irregular. 
With most of the species the skin of wax that 
covers each batch of larve is to the unaided eye 
