HYMENOPTERA. 119 



tion, which, according to Cheshire/ is a highly nitrog- 

 enous tissue former, possessing apparently a singular 

 power in developing the generative faculty, to the 

 queen and drone larvce and different nourishment to 

 the workers. The tender treatment on the part of 

 the old bees towards the larvae is in strong contrast to 

 the indifference shown the young locusts by their par- 

 ents, and seems to differ only in degire from that fos- 

 tering care which becomes the constant characteristic 

 of the higher vertebrates in maternal nursing and the 

 protection of the young by both parents, and which, 

 in human Hfe, finds its noblest result and highest ex- 

 pression in our systems of education. 



The larva, within its cell, spins a thin cocoon about 

 itself in five or six days, and passes into the pupal stage 

 (PL X., Fig. 1 80, side view; Fig. 181, ventral view of 

 the same). This last stage lasts about ten days, when 

 the winged insect appears. This metamorphosis, like 

 that of the fly (see p. 255), illustrates the law of 

 accelerated development ; for here we have the larval 

 and pupal stages covering only a period of fifteen or 

 sixteen days, while the worker-bee often lives eight 

 months, and the queen has been known to live five 

 years. During adult life the art of building homes 

 has been gradually developed, habits of industry and 

 economy have been formed, and rude laws govern- 

 ing the community as a whole have been enforced ; 

 in brief, we have in a colony of bees specialization of 

 structure and function, resulting in a stage of social 

 life which it is difficult to account for unless we admit 



1 Bees and Bee-Keeping. London, 1886. 



