34 BULLETIN 1222, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



bring them to normal size, some of the eggs, or even some of the 

 larvae are removed so that the remaining ones may be sufficiently fed. 



To gain some idea of the immensity of the task of rearing a single 

 larva it is necessary to refer to Table 6. Averaging the results found 

 for the eggs and larvae of all ages, it is seen that on an average more 

 than 1,300 visits are made in 24 hours. On the last day before cap- 

 ping no less than 2,855 visits are made by the nurse bees to a single 

 cell. On this last day before capping approximately 4f hours are 

 spent by the nurse bees within the cell. 



When these facts are considered, together with the time required 

 for obtaining, preparing, and transporting the food, and the time re- 

 quired for capping the cells, it is evident that the rearing of brood 

 constitutes a considerable burden to the working forces of the colony, 

 doubtless reducing the field work and also other inside labors. It 

 follows, therefore, that any considerable brood-rearing during the 

 main honey flow must reduce materially the surplus honey procured. 

 Not only is the surplus honey cut down because of the reduction in 

 the number of field workers and comb builders, but honey which is 

 brought in is lost, since it is fed to larvae which usually develop too 

 late to aid in the gathering of a crop. 



The foregoing statements are substantiated in practical beekeeping 

 by the well-established fact that a newly hived swarm gathers honey 

 and builds comb more rapidly than an equally strong colony which 

 has not swarmed. The reason for this is now clear. All members of 

 a swarm may be either field workers or comb builders, while at first 

 none of the nectar brought from the field is fed to brood, all of it 

 being stored or consumed by adult bees. Similar results are obtained 

 by confining the queen to a single brood chamber just before the 

 honey-flow, since this somewhat limits the queen in egg-laying and 

 reduces the amount of brood to be cared for during the honey-flow. 

 Caging the queen has a similar effect, although this introduces other 

 factors which may reduce the amount of surplus honey that might be 

 obtained under this system. 3 



SUMMARY. 



The attention given eggs and larvae of the honeybee by the nurse 

 bees consists in visits to the cells for purposes of inspection and for 

 work or nursing carried on within the cell. 



The number of such visits averages about 1,300 per day during 

 the eight days from the time the egg is laid till the fully grown 

 larva is sealed within the cell. 



The elaborated food on which larvae feed during about the first 

 two days of the larval period is practically all placed in the cell with 

 the newly-hatched larva soon after hatching. This is mass feeding. 



Soon after the second day another kind of food is supplied to the 

 worker larva. This food contains considerable undigested pollen and 

 is fed at approximately the same rate at which it is consumed by the 

 larva. 



The fact that the method of feeding the worker larva is changed, 

 for no apparent reason, after the second day, together with the ex- 

 cessive amount of time spent in visits of nurse bees to the older 

 worker larvae, suggests that there may be here a reciprocal feeding 



3 Phillips, E. F. Beekeeping. A discussion of the honeybee and of the production of 

 honey, 457 p., 190 flg., front. New York, 1915. [See p. 282.] 



