HYMENOPTERA. 167 
duced to the rearing of the young, and the internal economy of 
the hive. 
We have seen that the labourers or working bees resemble 
the females in several particulars. Certain curious experiments 
have proved that they are of one sex, and that they may become 
mothers, if, when in their state of larve and three days after 
they are hatched, they receive a peculiar kind of aliment or that 
which is given tothe queen-larve. But even then they can only 
acquire all the faculties of the latter by being placed in a larger 
cell or one similar to that of the larve of the female proper, the 
royal cell. If fed in this way intheir own cell, they can only 
produce males, and differ from the females proper by being 
smaller. The labourersthen are merely females whose ovaries 
have not been developed in consequence of the nature of the 
food given to them while in the state of larve. 
The substance of which their combs are composed, being ill 
adapted to resist the effects of the weather, and as they do not 
construct a nest or general envelope, these Insects can only 
establish their colonies in cavities where their work finds a na- 
tural shelter. ~The labourers, which are alone charged with the 
work, form those lamine composed of two opposing rows of 
hexagonal alveoli with a pyramidal base formed of three rhombs. 
These alveoli have received the name of cells, and each lamina 
that of comb. They are always perpendicular, parallel, fixed at 
top or by one of the edges, and separated by spaces which allow 
the Bees to pass between them. The cells are thus placed hori- 
zontally. Distinguished geometricians have demonstrated that 
their form is the most economical with respect to the expendi- 
ture of wax, and the most advantageous as to the extent of the 
space contained in each cell. Bees, however, know how to 
modify this form according to circumstances. They cut away 
and fit their faces piece by piece. These cells, with the excep- 
tion of that proper to the larva and nymph of the female, are 
almost equal; some contain the brood, and the remainder the 
honey and pollen of flowers. Some of the cells containing honey 
are open, and the remainder, or those held in reserve, are sealed 
up with a flat or slightly convex lid. The royal cells, which 
vary in number from two to forty, are much larger, almost 
cylindrical, somewhat narrower at the end, and have little cavi- 
ties on their external surface. They usually hang from the 
margin of the combs, in the manner of stalactites, so that the 
larve contained in them are in a reversed position. Some of 
them weigh as much as one hundred and fifty of the ordinary 
