THE MAGIC CITY 105 



Apparently, they thought that the city was in 

 danger, and they seemed intent on saving as 

 much as possible of their hard-earned hoard. 

 The Naturalist then explained that beekeepers 

 disturbed their bees as little as possible to 

 avoid interrupting their work of storing up 

 honey. By keeping gentle strains of Italian 

 bees which have become used to being 

 handled, they are able to carry on the neces- 

 sary work with very little disturbance. 



The Naturalist then lifted out a frame 

 which was filled with comb and covered with 

 bees. He called his visitor's attention to the 

 way in which the cells were built, with the 

 bottom of each one opposite one third of each 

 of three others on the opposite side of the 

 comb. Some of the cells along the top of the 

 comb were filled with honey, while others con- 

 tained eggs and newly hatched bees. The eggs 

 were carefully pointed out, and then the little 

 larvae which appear after three days when the 

 egg hatches. The fat, wormlike little creature 

 has no resemblance to the mature bee, but 

 grows very fast for six days, during which it 

 is frequently fed by the nurses. When the 

 larva has been fed for six days, it then straight- 

 ens out lengthwise in the cell and it is sealed 



