102 PUTNAM, NOTES ON THE 



another, but, as soon as food enough has been collected, 

 she lays the eggs for a second. The eggs are laid, in 

 contact with each other, in one cavity of the mass of pol- 

 len, with a part of which they are slightly covered. They 

 are very soon developed ; in fact the lines are nowhere 

 distinctly drawn, between the egg and the larva, the larva 

 and pupa, and again between the latter and the imago ; a 

 perfect series, showing this gradual transformation of the 

 young to the imago, can be found in almost every nest. 



As soon as the larvae are capable of motion and com- 

 mence feeding they eat the pollen by which they are 

 surrounded, and gradually separating, push their way in 

 various directions. Eating as they move and increasing in 

 size quite rapidly, they soon make large cavities in the 

 pollen mass. When they have attained their full size they 

 spin a silken wall about them, which is strengthened by 

 the old bees covering it with a thin layer of wax, which 

 soon becomes hard and tough, thus forming a cell. The 

 larvae now gradually attain the pupa stage and remain inac- 

 tive until their full developement. They then cut their way 

 out and are ready to assume their duties as workers, small 

 females, males or queens according to their individual 

 formation. 



It is apparent that the irregular disposition of the cells 

 is due to their being constructed so peculiarly by the 

 larvae. After the first brood, composed of workers, has 

 come forth, the queen bee devotes her time principally to 

 her duties at home, the workers supplying the colony 

 with honey and pollen. As the queen continues prolific, 

 more workers are added and the nest is rapidly enlarged. 



About the middle of summer, eggs are deposited which 

 produce both small females and males, and it is supposed 

 by some observers that it is from the union of these, at 

 the last of the season, that the eggs are laid from which 

 the queens are developed : but there seems some reason 

 to doubt this, as a new nest, previously mentioned, was 

 found on the last of July occupied only by a queen and 

 queen larvae. It is true, however, that all eggs, laid after 

 the last of July, produce the large females, or queens, and, 

 the males being still in the nest, it is presumed that the 

 queens are impregnated at this time, as, on the approach 



