THE BEE. 



grown so as to touch the opposite angle of the cell, it coils itself 

 up in the form of a circular arc, or as Swammerdam describes 

 it, like a dog going to sleep. It floats 

 there in a whitish transparent fluid, pro- 

 lg * ' vided for it by the nurses, on which it 

 probably feeds during this early stage of 

 its life. Its dimensions are gradually en- 

 larged until its extremities touch one ano- 

 ther, so as to form a complete ring, fig. 41 , 

 in the base of the cell. In this state the 

 8 TU k is fed with the pap or bee bread 

 already mentioned. The slightest move- 

 ment on the part of the nursing bees is 

 Fig. 43. sufficient to attract its attention, and it 

 eagerly opens its little jaws to receive the 

 offered nourishment, the supply of which, 

 presented by the nurse, is liberal without being profuse. 



The growth of the larva is completed in from four to six days, 

 according to the temperature of the weather. In cool weather 

 the development takes two days more than in warm weather. 



When it has attained its full growth, it occupies the whole 

 breadth and a great part of the length of the cell. The nurses at 

 this time knowing that the moment has 

 arrived at which the first metamor- 

 phosis, in which the grub is changed 

 into a nymph, takes place, discontinue 

 the supply of food, and close up the 

 mouth of the cell by a light brown 

 waxen cover, which is convex externally. 



This convexity of the cover is greater in the drone cells than 

 in those of the workers. The covers of the honey cells are, on 

 the contrary, made paler in colour, and quite flat or even a little 

 concave externally. 



When the larva has been thus enclosed, it immediately com- 

 mences, like the silk-worm, to spin a cocoon. In this labour it is. 

 incessantly employed, lining the sides of its cell and encasing its 

 own body in a white silken robe. The threads which form^ this 

 mantle issue from the middle of the under lip of the nymph, as 

 the insect in this intermediate state between that of the grub and 

 the perfect bee is called. This thread consists of two filaments, 

 which, issuing from two adjoining orifices in the spinner, are then 

 gummed together. 



106. The nymph of a worker spins its robe in thirty-six hours,, 

 and after passing three days in this preparatory state, it undergoes 

 so great a change as to lose every vestige of its previous form. It 

 50 



