214 



Nature-Study Agriculture 



How bees 

 multiply 



W. T. Skilling 



FIG. 166. Studying bees at school. When swarming takes place, the new 

 colonies are disposed of to pupils. 



made with glass sides, is very convenient (Fig. 166). 

 The long-bodied queen may be seen within a circle of 

 workers, their heads all turned toward her. The tiny 

 white eggs which she lays may be seen at the bottom of 

 the cells in the comb. In three days these hatch into 

 tiny white larvae, which are carefully fed by the " nurse 

 bees." The larvae grow so fast that in five or six days 

 each of them nearly fills his cell, which is then sealed over 

 by the bees. Without receiving anything further from 

 the bees in the hive except warmth, the young, now 

 called pupae (singular, "pupa"), change into fully 

 developed bees. This takes twelve or thirteen days 

 more. Each new bee now eats the capping from its 

 cell and emerges, to begin doing its part in the work of 



