THE HUMBLE-BEES. 281 



however, they quit their hiding-places, and may be 

 heard cheerfully humming in the bright sunshine, 

 especially in the neighbourhood of the catkins of the 

 willows, which open their curious flowers at a very 

 early period of the season. As soon as these give 

 promise of a supply of food, the industrious Bee sets 

 to work to prepare a few cells for the reception of her 

 eggs. These, as in the Hive Bee, are formed of wax, 

 which is a substance secreted from between the ven- 

 tral plates of the Bee's abdomen, but when compared 

 with the beautiful hexagonal cells of which the comb 

 of the Hive Bee is composed, they appear exceedingly 

 rude in their structure. They serve the purpose for 

 which they are intended equally well, however, and 

 the parent Bee devotes constant attention to the 

 larvae, supplying them with honey and pollen until 

 they are full-grown and ready to change to the pupa 

 state. Before undergoing this transformation, they 

 each spin a small oval cocoon of tough silk, and in 

 this they remain until they are ready to emerge in 

 the perfect state, when they commence gnawing the 

 tops of their cocoons, and with the assistance of their 

 parent a circular piece is soon removed so as to allow 

 of their escape. The Bees of the first brood are all 

 workers, which immediately relieve the foundress of 

 the colony of many of her duties, by increasing the 

 size of the nest, busying themselves with the care of 

 the new larvae, and collecting the honey and pollen 

 necessary for the food of the latter. The silken 

 cocoons in which they were enclosed are also trimmed 

 up by them and furnished with a ring of wax round 

 the mouth, and thus converted into regular honey 

 pots, but the wax of the cells in which they passed 

 the larva state, is for the most part used in the con- 



