x SINE STUN MY STUDY 249 
tail was in the cell was only twenty to thirty seconds. 
The rest of the time was spent in working at the 
rim of the cells with her jaws, and often, just 
previous to each laying, in making one or more 
futile attempts to insert the tip of her abdomen in 
the cell, her tail slipping down the wall of the cell on 
the outside. An attempt having at last proved 
successful she grasped the cell with her hind legs, 
and in a few seconds the tip of the sting appeared 
through the wall of the cell and remained exposed for 
a moment or two. On one or two occasions a 
worker noticed the sting and touched it with its jaws. 
The queen began reducing the mouth of the cell 
after laying the seventh and eighth eggs, as if she 
was going to close it, but enlarged it again just 
before laying another egg. After sealing, the 
workers as usual became ‘very troublesome. The 
queen seized energetically the most persistent of 
these, and inflicted on them a punishment which 
seemed to consist of a snap or two with her jaws. 
All was well with the cell when I looked at it on 
three occasions between 5.0 and 7.0 p.M., but at 7.25 
I found it wide open, with frenzied workers eagerly 
biting at the eggs. The light being poor, I went to 
fetch a candle, and when I returned the cell was 
sealed and the queen keeping guard. A few minutes 
later I was surprised to see her open the cell and 
lay three or four more eggs. 
Of course the workers continued to show great 
hostility to the cell of eggs. In order to ascertain 
how far the disaffection extended amongst them, 
