138 THE LORE OF THE HONEY-BEE 



to change her skin for the last time. In the case 

 of the worker these fine-wrought sleeping-clothes 

 envelop her whole body, forming a continuous 

 cocoon. But the queen-larva weaves herself only 

 a scanty sort of cloak, covering her head and 

 thorax, but leaving her nether portions bare. The 

 theory usually advanced in explanation of this is, 

 that when the surplus queens are slaughtered in 

 their cells by the accepted mother-bee after her 

 fertilisation, the fell work is rendered easier by 

 the absence of the tough material of the cocoon 

 over the parts generally attacked. It seems to 

 be well substantiated that in a battle of queens 

 the stings are not used haphazard, as with the 

 workers, but each queen tries to thrust her weapon 

 into one of her enemy's spiracles or breathing- 

 holes, of which she possesses fourteen, seven on 

 each side. And a stroke dealt in this way appears 

 to be always fatal. 



But, in all likelihood, the true reason why the 

 que'en sleeps in a short gown made of tough, coarse 

 fibre must be looked for somewhere back in the 

 old ancestral history of the honey-bee. It is 

 probably safe to consider the complete worker 

 cocoon as a comparatively recent introduction, 

 evolved to meet some necessity arising since the 

 bee-people became a civilised race. But what its 

 true origin was appears to be out of the reach of 

 all conjecture. A curious fact is that these cocoons 

 are never removed from the cell. They remain 



