126 THE HUMBLE-BEE v. 



by fresh ones emerging : this can only happen if 

 there is plenty of brood in all stages. 



I found it possible to save these perishing colonies 

 by bringing them indoors, where I confined each 

 colony in a box and fed it liberally with honey and 

 also with pollen that I obtained from a honey-bees' 

 comb and placed in a special cell. This treatment, 

 continued for about a fortnight in the case of the 

 most impoverished colonies and for about a week 

 in those that were stronger, produced in every case 

 a wonderful improvement. The bees appeared to 

 take fresh heart, tending the brood with increased 

 zeal, so that the pupae developed into bees without 

 any further delay ; the half-starved larvae rapidly 

 grew to full size, span their cocoons, and later on 

 developed into strong and vigorous workers ; the 

 queen also recommenced laying eggs. In short, 

 prosperity returned, and the colonies when put back 

 into their domiciles were generally able, after a few 

 evenings' feeding, to support themselves. Moreover, 

 it was much easier for me to look after the colonies 

 indoors than in their respective domiciles. One 

 poor latreillellus queen and her young were nursed 

 back to life in this way from the last stage of ex- 

 haustion. I unexpectedly found her in one of my 

 nests when lifting the unoccupied ones as late as 

 July 27. She was in a drowsy state and had a 

 little lump of brood, most of which proved to be 

 dead, and one drowsy worker. I gave them a 

 worker from another nest, and after about two 

 weeks' treatment they recovered. 



