INSECTA. 



287 



males and females disclosed in a nest quit it, and appear upon the 

 surface of the earth, where they swarm in innumerable hosts and pair. 

 The busied workers then convey a chosen male and a female back 

 into the dwelling, and imprison them in the central royal cell, the 

 entrances to which they decrease and guard ; through these apertures 

 the imprisoned pair then receive the nutriment they require. The 

 male now, as amongst all other insects, speedily dies after the im- 

 pregnation of the female has been effected ; but the female from this 

 period begins to swell enormously from the developement of her 

 countless eggs, and, by the time she is ready to commence laying, 

 her abdomen is about 1 500 or 000 times larger than all the rest 

 of her body (fig. 130, E). During the period of this swelling the 



Fig. 130. 



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workers remove the walls of the royal apartment, uniting the nearest 

 cells to it, so that, in proportion to the increase of the body of the 

 queen, the size of the abode she inhabits is also increased. She 



