HYMENOPTERA. 



153 



lodged, while others are filled with honey, and the pollen 

 of flowers. Some of the honey- cells are left open, others, 

 used as a reserve, are carefully closed with a lid of wax. 

 The royal cells, varying from two to forty in each hive, 

 are much larger than the rest, and are suspended, like 

 stalactites, from the margins of the combs. 



The cells provided for the males are intermediate in 

 their dimensions between these and those constructed for 

 the reception of the young labourers. As the bees in- 

 variably build them from above downwards, those at the 

 bottom are always the last constructed. 



The queeri-bee begins to lay her eggs in early summer, 

 and continues to do so at intervals till the close of autumn. 

 Keaumur has estimated that she will sometimes lay twelve 



FlG. 111. HONEYCOMB, WITH MALE WORKER AND ROYAL CELLS. 



thousand eggs in the course of twenty days. Guided by 

 an unerring instinct, she never makes a mistake in choosing 

 the cells proper to receive her different kinds of eggs. 

 Those laid in early spring always give birth to working 



FlG. 112. GRUB IN CELL. 



FlG. 113. PUPA. 



bees ; they are hatched in the course of four or five days, 

 and the young larvae are at once taken care of by the 



H 3 



