172 HIVE-BEES. LEPIDOPTERA. 



reception of the eggs, of honey and of the pollen of flowers 

 mixed with honey, into a paste known as bee-bread. This food 

 is not deposited in the cells with the eggs ; but is supplied to the 

 larvae by the workers, which tend them most assiduously. The 

 honey is stored up for the support of the adults through the 

 winter; a considerable proportion of the Neuters surviving, as 

 well as the Queen, when the supply of food is sufficient. The 

 Drones are killed at the end of the summer, by the stings of the 

 workers, being themselves unprovided with any means of defence. 

 The eggs are laid in the central part of each comb, which is the 

 warmest situation ; those which are to produce Drones have 

 cells constructed for them, which are 

 rather larger than the rest ; and those 

 from which Queens are to be reared, 

 termed royal cells, are much larger and 

 of different form. "When so many 

 FIG.495.-ROYAL CELL. y oun g Bees are Produced, that the hive 

 is over-peopled, colonies are sent forth 



with young queens in search of another habitation. Further 

 details on the economy of Bees have been elsewhere given 

 (ANIM. PHYSIOL. 712716). 



ORDER VI. LEPIDOPTERA. 



767. This Order, characterised, as formerly stated, by the 

 downy covering of the wings, contains some of the most beauti- 

 ful forms of the whole class, as well as some of the largest. 

 The number of species it comprehends is very considerable, 

 although inferior to that of the Coleoptera, Hymenoptera, or 

 Diptera ; it probably includes one-sixth of the whole class. All 

 the insects of this Order are commonly ranked as Butterflies, 

 Moths, and Sphinges or Hawk-moths; and whilst they are most 

 readily distinguished from all others, there is so much general 

 resemblance among themselves, that the difficulty of classifying 



