16 HISTORY AND PHYSIOLOGY. 



the same day they became bees." "We have 

 seen her," says Wildman, " the same day issue 

 from the cell, and return from the fields loaded 

 with wax, like the rest." The error of Maraldi 

 and Wildman in using the term wax instead of 

 pollen, does not at all affect the accuracy of their 

 observations. As soon as the young insect has 

 been licked clean and regaled with a little honey 

 by its companions, the latter clean out the cell, 

 preparatory to its being re-occupied by a new 

 tenant or with honey. 



With respect to the cocoons spun by the dif- 

 ferent larvae, both workers and drones spin com- 

 plete cocoons, or inclose themselves on every 

 side : royal larvae construct only imperfect cocoons, 

 open behind, and enveloping only the head, thorax, 

 and first ring of the abdomen ; and Huber con- 

 cludes, without any hesitation, that the final cause 

 of their forming only incomplete cocoons is that 

 they may thus be exposed to the mortal sting of 

 the first hatched queen, whose instinct leads her 

 instantly to seek the destruction of those who 

 would soon become her rivals. If the royal larvae 

 spun complete cocoons, the stings of the queens 

 regnant might be so entangled in their silken 

 meshes, as to be with difficulty disengaged from 

 them. " Such," says Huber, " is the instinctive 

 enmity of young queens to each other ', that I have 

 seen one of them, immediately on its emergence 



