TWO YOUNG NATURALISTS. 143 



society are definitely assured, supposing, as you say, 

 that the eggs for queens do not fail." 



"This latter contingency has been provided for as 

 well as the others. The larvae appear after two or 

 three days, and are fed by the attendants of the hive 

 for five or six days. Then they cease to eat, spin a 

 cocoon, and in this temporary shroud await the 

 moment when they also shall become perfect bees. 



u One of the most curious facts is that the eggs and 



COMMON EARWIG. 



larvse that are to become queens are the same as the 

 eggs to produce the larvae of workers. It is the 

 nutriment given to them that differs : while the 

 workers receive only a rather thin paste, the future 

 queens are nourished by means of a much more sub- 

 stantial jelly. So that if, as the result of some unfor- 

 tunate event, they should be deprived of their queen, 

 they select a well-to-do larva of a worker, and this, 



