232 NATURAL HISTORY OF WASPS.. 
the egg-shell and the first skin in close connection, 
and showing by their position outside the cocoon 
that this was not begun till after the first moulting. 
Within the cocoon we sometimes find fragments of 
the second skin, but the frequent absence of these 
fragments from the cell is explained by the fact that 
they are usually found adherent to the pupal en- 
velope, which the bee carries out with her sticking to 
her legs and abdomen. 
I feel no doubt, after having devoted a good deal 
of attention to this inquiry, that the above is a 
correct statement of the facts connected with the 
casting of the skin of the bee-larva; that the process 
is essentially the same in both the wasp and the 
honey-bee, and that in both alike the skin is cast 
twice, the cocoon being spun between the period of 
the first and second castings. Some writers* have 
denied that bees cast their skin at all. Swammer- 
dam,t on the other hand, is often quoted as asserting 
that they do moult. His opinion, however, is not 
so very positively expressed on this point. The 
meaning of the few passages which relate to the 
moulting of the bee- and wasp-larva may be stated 
briefly. He infers, from analogy, that the bee-larva 
sheds its skin several times, but he cannot say how 
often; that the moulting is very complete, but much 
more difficult to trace by the exuvi in the bee than 
in the hornet; and that the remains of the cast skin 
are to be looked for adhering to the abdomen of the 
pupa. 
* See ‘ Cyclopedia of Anatomy and Physiology. Insecta.’ Vol. II, 
p. 876; also Burmeister, op. cit. p. 432, for references on this subject. 
+Swammerdam. Op. cit. Vol. I. pp. 408, 417, 418, 542. 
