SOME INSECT COMMUNITIES 65 



waxen doors of their nurseries, assisted by 

 the nurse-workers, and, coming out on to the 

 brood-comb, clean themselves, partake of food, 

 and as soon as they have gained sufficient 

 strength, in the case of the workers, begin their 

 labours. When the young princesses have com- 

 pleted their metamorphosis, however, they are 

 not permitted to leave their cells at once, but 

 are kept as royal prisoners, food being passed 

 into their cells through a small hole in the waxen 

 door, until their shrill piping intimates that they 

 have attained their complete sexual maturity. 



Now let us watch the community in the hive 

 as the season advances. At first it is necessary 

 to increase the depleted ranks of the workers, 

 and so the queen is seen busy day after day 

 depositing eggs in those cells allocated to the 

 rearing of the worker larvae. In a little while 

 the hive becomes populous with an ever-in- 

 creasing number of workers, who, we soon 

 observe, are told off to perform certain duties; 

 some must go forth and labour in the fields, 

 flying far from the hive, and returning only when 

 laden with a precious burden of nectar and pollen 

 collected from the flowers they have visited; 

 others must play the part of ever-watchful 

 and faithful nurses, masticating and partly 

 digesting the food before giving it to the hungry 

 larvae ; some must be busy attending the queen, 

 to whom they show the greatest respect and devo- 

 tion ; others are at work building new combs, 

 and repairing the old; and, most curious of all 

 perhaps, many turn themselves for the time 

 being into living ventilators, to keep the hive at 



