36 THE HUMBLE-BEE 



away from them. The cocoons, too, are slightly 

 larger, for the larva;, nourished by so many nurses, 

 grow to a larger size and develop into larger and 

 stronger workers. 



As the cell swells with the growing larvae the 

 bees are careful not to permit its area of attachment 

 to the cocoons to grow larger, and they keep clear- 

 ing the wax away from here, while to prevent it 

 from falling over they fasten it by two or three 

 pillars or ties of wax to adjacent cocoons or to the 

 roof of the nest. 



The larvae of B. terrestris and lucorum do not 

 keep together in a compact mass, but as they begin 

 to grow large each one acquires its own covering 

 of wax, although they do not separate completely ; 

 the cocoons, therefore, do not form definite clusters, 

 and are easily detached from one another. On 

 the other hand, the bunches of larvae and clusters 

 of cocoons of B. sylvarum, agrorum, and helferanus 

 are very compact and globular, and are often 

 arranged in a ring around the centre of the nest, 

 crowning the already vacated cocoons, and giving 

 the comb a beautifully symmetrical appearance. 

 The larvae and cocoons of lapidarius also form 

 compact masses, but two or more batches of worker 

 brood, of nearly the same age, often coalesce as 

 the result of their egg-cells being placed in line in 

 contact with one another, consequently the clusters 

 are often large and irregular. 



With most of the species the skin of wax that 

 covers each batch of larvae is to the unaided eye 



