332 THE INSECT WORLD. 



to the development of the larvae imprisoned in them ; and so the 

 larvae of working bees, having lived in the small cells, can never attain 

 the proportions of the queen, nor acquire her fecundity. But all this 

 is changed if these larvae are moved into the large cells and fed on 

 this royal pabulum ; they then become veritable queens. If, with us, 

 the coat does not make the man nor the frock the monk, it is certain 

 that with the bees the cradle helps materially to make the queen. 



When the queen through some accident or other has perished, 

 the plebeian population of the hive very quickly perceive the mis- 

 fortune, and without losing time in useless regrets, apply themselves to 

 repair their loss. They choose the larva of a working bee, less than 

 three days old, on which they bestow the treatment suited to change 

 it into a female. The workers enlarge the cell of this grub by 

 demolishing the surrounding cells, and administer to it a strong dose 

 of royal food, to effect its transformation. This marvellous metamor- 

 phosis is accomplished like those which one reads of in fairy tales, 

 where so many poor beggars are changed, by a wave of the hand, into 

 beautiful princesses, covered with gold and precious stones. Only 

 here the fairy tale is a true story ; the poet's dream is a real pheno- 

 menon. According to Francis Huber, the larva intended to produce 

 a female has to change its position. The workers add then to its 

 domicile a sort of vertical tube, into which they push and turn round 

 the young grub which is the hope of the community. For twelve 

 days a bee, a sort of body-guard, has special charge of the person of 

 our infant. It offers it food, and pays it many other delicate little 

 attentions. When the moment for the metamorphosis has come, the 

 orifice of the tube is closed, and the bees await the hatching of the 

 new queen. Thus the loss of the queen is speedily replaced. The 

 larvae of the queens, when they are shut up in their cells, have the 

 head downwards, whilst the larvae of the males have the head 

 upwards. Their hatching takes place thirteen days after the laying of 

 the eggs. 



As soon as they have quitted their cradles, the young queens are 

 ready to take flight. The others, workers and males, are less strongly 

 organised. Before they are able to take a part in the sports and 

 labours of the old ones they require a rest of twenty-four hours, 

 during which the nurses lick them, brush them, and offer diem honey. 

 But the young workers require to undergo no apprenticeship before 

 they do the work which devolves upon them. They go straight to 

 their work, and suppress all apprenticeship. Nature is their guide 

 and counsellor. 



When the hatching has begun, each day adds some hundreds of 



