332 THE INSECT WOELD. 



This is the way in which the hatching of ordinary bees takes 

 place, workers and males ; the first, twenty days after they are 

 laid ; the second, twenty- four days after. The rearing and birth 

 of the young queens is slightly difierent. In proportion as the 

 larvae increase in size, do the workers enlarge -the cells which 

 contain them ; and then again gradually diminish their size as 

 the moment .of their last metamorphosis approaches. A special 

 and peculiar food is given to the larvae of the queens ; it is quite 

 difierent from that which is given to the larvae of the working 

 bees, being a heavier and sweeter substance. This special food 

 seems to exercise such an energetic influence on the development 

 of the ovaries, that simple workers which have accidentally re- 

 ceived any of it, during their larval state, become pregnant and 

 lay a few eggs. But this anomalous development remains imper- 

 fect, because the prolific food was only administered in a small 

 quantity. Besides which, the size of the cells is of great impor- 

 tance to the development of the larves imprisoned in them ; and 

 so the larvae of working bees having lived in the small cells, can 

 never attain the proportions of the queen, nor acquire her fecundity. 

 But all this is changed if these larvae are moved into the large 

 cells and fed on this royal pabulum ; they then become veritable 

 queens. If, with us, the coat does not make the man nor the 

 frock the monk, it is certain that with bees the cradle helps mate- 

 rially to make the queen. 



When the queen through some accident or other has perished, 

 the plebeian population of the hive very quickly perceive the mis- 

 fortune, and without losing time in useless regrets, apply them- 

 selves to repair their loss. They choose the larva of a working 

 bee, less than three days old, on which they bestow the treatment 

 suited to change it into a female. The workers enlarge the cell 

 of this grub by demolishing the surrounding cells, and administer 

 to it a strong dose of royal food to effect its transformation. This 

 marvellous metamorphosis is accomplished like those which one 

 reads of in fairy tales, where so many poor beggars are changed, 

 by a wave of the hand, into beautiful princesses, covered with gold 

 and precious stones. Only here the fairy tale is a true story ; the 

 poet's dream a real phenomenon. According to Francis Huber, 

 the larva intended to produce a female has to change its posi- 



