THE BEE NATION. 243 



work. Regard for the maintenance of the colony requires 

 that each individual bee, in case of need, shall be able tc 

 undertake each kind of work, and this can be ascertained by 

 direct observation. Since the queen only fulfils her maternal 

 duties so far as the laying of the eggs is concerned, and 

 troubles herself no further as to the fate of her children 

 she, indeed, having no time to do so the whole care of the 

 offspring falls at once on the shoulders of the bees of the 

 hive, and they practically act as nurses as well as attendants. 

 They arrange the cells, or the cradles for the reception of 

 the eggs, clean them, and build new ones when wanted. 

 They prepare the wax for building the cells, and also the 

 so-called bee-bread, which is made out of honey, pollen, and 

 water, and with this are fed not only the very hungry 

 grubs and larvae, but also the queen ; the drones are left to 

 feed themselves from the store- chambers, the working- bees 

 'regarding them with a certain contempt or indifference. 

 The queen, during egg-laying, requires a very large amount 

 of nourishment, on account of which ten or twelve feeders 

 are constantly busied with her. The young bees also, after 

 they have left the cradle, require feeding for some days, 

 until they can eat by themselves, and must also, like human 

 babies, be washed and cleansed from the soiling consequent 

 on birth. There is also a great difference between the food 

 of the drone and working-bee and the royal larvaB ; the 

 latter, during their whole life and until their emergence, are 

 fed with bee-bread, whereas the former only receive this at 

 the beginning, and are only fed with pollen and honey during 

 the later days of larval existence. As the internal sexual 

 organs develop during this period, it is clear why so great a 

 difference is found in the further development of these organs 

 in queens and working-bees. The bee-bread is nothing more 

 than chyme made externally, the digestive process being 

 half performed in the interior of the bees which feed them. 

 It has, however, become more concentrated than chyme by 

 evaporation in the cells. Undigested grains of pollen, which 

 can be easily recognised in the small intestine of the working- 

 bee larvre in the last days of larval life, are not to be found 

 in bee-bread ; under the microscope it is an amorphous 

 tenacious substance, with countless fine granules of fatty 

 appearance. 



The attendants set apart for the young brood have further 



