HYMENOPTERA. 361 
The cells which compose the nest, and which are to receive 
the larvee of the insect, are of an oval shape, and of a pale yellow 
or even of a blackish colour. Fig. 334 represents these cells. 

Fig. 334.—Cells from a Humble Bee’s nest. 
The wax of which they are composed has none of the qualities of 
that of hive bees, but is soft, sticky, and brownish. 
When the mother humble bee, which at first was alone and built 
her house single-handed, has made a certain number of cells, she 
seeks for honey and pollen and prepares a paste, which she deposits 
in the future cradles. She then lays six or seven eggs in each. 
The larve which come from them live in common, at the same 
table, under the same tent. The cell is at first only the size of a 
pea; it soon becomes too narrow, splits and cracks, and requires 
to be enlarged and repaired many times, a work of which our 
industrious insects acquit themselves with a good deal of care and 
attention. Before passing into the pupa state, each larva spins for 
itself a shell, or cocoon, of very fine white silk. It ceases to eat, 
remains at first rolled up, then expands itself little by little, and 
changes its skin after three days. It passes fifteen days in the 
pupa state in a quiescent condition. After the normal time has 
elapsed for it to remain in its hiding-place, it delivers itself from 
its mummy-like covering, with the help of the mother or the 
workers. The humble bee then appears, robust, and its body 
covered with a greyish down. 
When the successive hatchings have furnished to the mother 
the reinforcement she is waiting for, the workers she has raised 
