GROWTH AND FEEDING OF HONEYBEE LARVAE. 19 



The increase in growth, measured by percentages, tends to attain a 

 maximum at the close of the second day and from that time steadily 

 declines until the close of larval development. 



Great individual differences in weight are noted between different 

 lots of the same age and between different individuals of similar age 

 in the same lot. 



The maximum average weight appears to be fairly constant, at 

 least for the same colony under similar conditions. 



Stimulating the activity of the bees by feeding a thin sugar sirup 

 during a dearth to produce the effect of a honey-flow was found to 

 cause an increase in the weight of larvae 4 days old and above, to as 

 much as 8 per cent in the case of 6-day-old larvae (just sealed). 



The weights of larvae over 3 days old are found to be affected by 

 variations in the honey-flow, the rate of growth decreasing under 

 conditions of dearth. 



Sealing of the cell is begun before the larva has attained its final 

 weight, and about one-third of the mouth of the cell is covered before 

 this weight is attained. 



Great differences exist in the time of the sealing of the cells of & 

 given lot of larvae of the same age, a period of several hours inter- 

 vening between the sealing of the earliest and that of the latest cell. 



Undersized or dwarf bees may be produced from larvae that are 

 not fully fed. 



From the various observations made, the change in the composition 

 of the food of the honeybee larva, from one of high nitrogenous con- 

 tent to one of high sugar content, takes place as early as the third 

 day after hatching from the egg. 



The excess of weight of food unconsumed in the cell before this 

 change in food composition occurs is correlated with the uniformly 

 great relative increase in growth of the larva during the first three 

 days of larval life. All later changes in the rate of growth are cor- 

 related with the condition of the honey-flow. 



The time spent by the nurse bees in nursing, as observed by Line- 

 burg, is correlated with the demands of the larvae for the different 

 types of food before and after change in composition occurs. 



