BEES 7 



Eventually all cells containing larvae are filled up with liquid honey 

 and pollen, so that the larva is bathed in its food, and a cap 

 rendered porous by admixture of pollen with the wax is built over 

 it by the workers. A worker is fed for five days, and in about 

 twelve days after sealing, or twenty-one from the time the egg was 

 laid, the imago, having passed through a brief pupal period inside 

 a silken cocoon woven by the larva within the closed cells, emerges 

 and begins to take her part in the business of the hive. At 

 first the young bee acts as a nurse to the larvae ; after about 

 a fortnight she flies abroad in search of pollen and nectar, and 

 undertakes the production of wax. The length of life of a worker 



B 



FIG. 3. A, egg ; B, larva ; C, pupa of honey-bee ; d, e,f, representing the 

 actual lengths of A, B, and C respectively. 



is about two months, excepting those which pass through the 

 winter. Unfertilised eggs require twenty-four days before the 

 emergence of the resulting drones ; whereas a " queen " can be 

 reared in only sixteen days. The larva from any fertilised egg 

 may be converted into a " queen " if appropriately fed by the 

 workers on " royal jelly " before weaning. Hence if the reigning 

 " queen " die, the bees are able in a short time to rear a suc- 

 cessor. This, however, frequently takes place without the death 

 of the " queen," and gives rise to the phenomenon of 

 swarming. 



Swarming. The occupants of one or more " queen " cells 

 being ready or nearly ready to emerge, the old queen issues forth 



