88 INSECT ARCHITECTUKE. 



off the covering, as is done also by ants in the 

 same circumstances. The instinct with which they 

 knoAV the precise time when it is proper to do this 

 is truly wonderful. It is no less so, that these 

 cocoons are by no means useless when thus un- 

 tenanted, for they subsequently serve for honey-pots, 

 and are indeed the only store-cells in the nest. For 

 this pur^iose the edge of the cell is repaired and 

 strengthened with a ring of wax. 



Breeding Cells. 



The true breeding-cells are contained in several 

 amorphus masses of brown-coloured wax, varying 

 in dimensions, but of a somewhat flat and globular 

 shape. On opening any of these, a number of eggs 

 or grubs are found, on whose account the mother 

 bee has collected the masses of wax, which also con- 

 tain a supply of pollen moistened with honey, for 

 their subsistence. 



The number of eggs or grubs found in one sphe- 

 roid of wax varies from three to thirty, and the bees 

 in a whole nest seldom exceed sixty. There are 

 three sizes of bees, of which the lemales are the 

 largest; but neither these nor the males are, as in 

 the case of the hive-bee, exempt from labour. The 

 females, indeed, always found the nests, since they 

 alone survive the winter, all the rest perishing with 

 cold. In each nest, also, are several females, that 

 livtt in harmony together. 



