NEST OF BUMBLE-BEES 289 



which drones will be born. Between the queen and 

 drone cells and the worker cells there is thus this 

 curious difference, that neither of the former contain 

 any honey or pollen. The eggs are laid in empty 

 cells, and the larvae are fed exclusively on the special 

 nutriment secreted by the workers ; and the workers 

 having laid the drone-eggs and finished their building 

 construction, are now concentrating their attention 

 upon the feeding of the unborn queens and drones. 

 To this, as to their earlier labours, it would seem that 

 they are summoned each morning by a trumpeter, 

 who acts as ' knocker-up ' at three or four o'clock. 

 This almost incredible statement was made over 200 

 years ago, and apparently, owing to the lack of a 

 similar institution among naturalists, has only recently 

 been thoroughly confirmed. There is, however, now 

 no doubt that each morning a large worker climbs 

 on the roof of the nest about quarter to four, and then 

 for half an hour, or an hour, buzzes loudly while she 

 also continuously flaps her wings. 



The performance is not known to be repeated at any 

 other hour, and at first one is inclined to regard the 

 sound as a warning note. However likely this may be, 

 the beating of the wings would seem to indicate that 

 the trumpeter ventilates the nest, and that this is the 

 real object of the performance. If so, the bumble- 

 bees in this, as in many other ways, foreshadow the 

 more complete polity of the hive-bees, many of whose 

 workers take a spell at ventilation exercise during the 

 midday or evening hours. 



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