104 HISTORY OF 



deposited in every cell ; but when the fecundity 

 of the queen is such that it exceeds the number 

 of cells already prepared, there are sometimes 

 three or four eggs crowded together in the same 

 apartment. But this is an inconvenience that the 

 working bees will by no means suffer. They seem 

 sensible, that two young ones stuffed up in the 

 same cell, when they grow larger, will but embar- 

 rass, and at last destroy each other ; they there- 

 fore take care to leave a cell to every egg, and 

 remove or destroy the rest. 



The single egg that is left remaining is fixed 

 to the bottom of the cell, and touches it but in a 

 single point. A day or two after it is deposited 

 the worm is excluded from the shell of the egg, 

 having the appearance of a maggot rolled up in a 

 ring, and lying softly on a bed of whitish-colour- 

 ed jelly, upon which also the little animal begins 

 to feed. In the mean time, the instant it appears, 

 the working bees attend it with the most anxious 

 and parental tenderness ; they furnish it every 

 hour with a supply of this whitish substance, on 

 which it feeds and lies, and watch the cell with 

 unremitting care. They are nurses that have 

 greater affection for the offspring of others than 

 many parents have for their own children. They 

 are constant in visiting each cell, and seeing that 

 nothing is wanting, preparing the white mixture, 

 which is nothing but a composition of honey and 

 wax, in their own bowels, with which they feed 

 them. Thus attended, and plentifully fed, the 

 worm, in less than six days' time, comes to its full 

 growth, and no longer accepts the food offered it. 



