ORDER VI. VEIN-WINGED INSECTS. 269 



that these eggs were developed slowly, being hatched by the 

 drones, but this is now proved to bo impossible, because bees 

 are cold-blooded, and that process would be useless, while 

 the temperature in a hive is as high as that under a brood- 

 hen. The eggs are first developed into maggots which are 

 scarcely able to move : they have a mouth like a caterpillar, 

 two white eyes, and ten air-holes, which are their respirato- 

 ry organs, on the sides of the body. They are fed with 

 honey by the workers for about a week, after which time 

 their nurses make a wax cover over the cell, and inclose the 

 maggot within, which then becomes a pupa, remains ten 

 days in this condition, and then breaks open its wax cover, 

 creeps out from the cell, dries its wings, runs about over the 

 combs for a while, and then flies away out of the hive in 

 company with its companions to collect materials arid pro- 

 visions for the hive. 



5th. THE SWARMS. Of the immense number of eggs 

 laid by the queen, those of the workers are laid first, then 

 those of the drones, and at last those of the young queens ; 

 and as the eggs are developed into perfect bees as often as 

 every four weeks during the season, the new progeny, with 

 a young queen at their head, swarms that is, they leave the 

 hive, and become the founders of a new colony. This emi- 

 gration principally occurs during the months of May and 

 June, and between 10 o'clock A.M. and 3 o'clock P.M. They 

 issue in such crowds that the air looks as if filled with 

 snow, and, flying about for a while, finally settle themselves 

 upon the lirnb of a tree, crowded close together, and hang- 

 ing one upon another in a lump, which resembles a long 

 and bushy beard. It is, therefore, the best plan to have no 

 high trees near the apiary, for if the swarms are obliged to 

 fly high up before they lodge on the tree they are frequently 

 lost. In such a case some people throw up fine sand into 

 the air, which aifects the bees like rain, and makes them de- 

 scend. In some places they drum with iron upon tin pans, 



