266 



ENTOMOLOGY 



To strengthen the edges of cells or to fill crevices, the workers use 

 propolis, the sticky exudation from the buds or leaf axils of poplar, fir, 

 horse-chestnut or other trees; though they will utilize instead such arti- 

 ficial substances as grease, pitch or 

 varnish. As winter approaches, the 

 bees apply the propolis liberally, 

 making their abode tight and com- 

 fortable. 



Larval Development. When 

 the brood cells are ready, the queen, 

 attended by workers, lays an egg in 

 each cell and has no further con- 

 cern as to its fate. After three 

 days the egg discloses a footless 

 grub (Figs. 283, 284) which de- 

 pends at first upon the milky food 

 that bathes it and has been sup- 

 plied from the mouths of the worker 

 nurses. Later the larva is weaned 

 by its nurses to pollen, honey and 

 water. As the stomach and the in- 

 testine of the larva do not com- 

 municate with each other, the ex- 

 cretions of the larva cannot contaminate the surrounding nutriment, 

 and they are retained until the final moult. Five days after hatching, 

 the larva spins its cocoon, the workers having meanwhile covered the 

 larval cells with a porous 

 cap of wax and pollen (Fig. 

 284) and on the twenty- 

 first day after the egg was 

 laid the winged bee cuts 

 its way out, assisted in this 

 operation by the ever-at- 

 tentive nurses. Now, after 

 acquiring the use of its fac- 

 ulties, the newly emerged 



bee itself assumes the duties of a nurse, but as soon as its cephalic nurs- 

 ing glands are exhausted it becomes a forager. This account applies to 

 the worker ; the three kinds of individuals differ in respect to the number 



FIG. 283. Comb of honey bee, show- 

 ing the insect in various stages. At the 

 right are large queen cells. After BEN- 

 TON. 



FIG. 284. Honey bee. /, feeding larva; p, pupa; 

 s, spinning larva. After CHESHIRE. 



