246 THE HUMBLE-BEE i? 
the cell, so that no worker could approach. At 
times her abdomen was much contracted, and it 
seemed as if she was on the point of plunging 
herself, head first, over the cell. I supposed she 
was about to lay some more eggs, and so it turned 
out, for her movements became frantic, and ended in 
her inserting the tip of her abdomen into the cell. 
She seemed in a great hurry to get the eggs laid; 
and even while she was laying them the workers 
attacked the cell, but they did no harm to it. Five 
minutes later she had the cell sealed over and was 
guarding it strictly. 
August 6, 8 a.m. Peace reigns in the nest, but 
the cell has completely disappeared.’ The waxen 
canopy was much extended during the night and, 
no doubt, contains the wax from the cell. 
4 p.M. Another large cell has been made in the 
same position as the last. The queen goes and adds 
to it occasionally, but spends long intervals crawling 
over and incubating different sets of cocoons, quite 
unconcerned. Three or four workers prepare for 
their campaign of opposition by planting themselves 
near the cell, where they maintain a continual buzzing 
and shaking of the wings. 
4.30 P.M. The queen is laying. 
While the eggs are being laid the tip of the 
abdomen remains in the cell, and the sting appears 
through the wall of the cell as each egg passes. 
When the queen lifted her tail out of the cell 
1 T do not think that cells of eggs are often completely destroyed in a normal 
nest. In this nest the workers’ passion had been excited by the change of 
queens on July 22. 
