THE SOVEREIGN WORKER-BEE 141 



On the second day it may be seen dipping into 

 the open honey-vats and pollen-bins, of which a 

 few are always scattered here and there among the 

 brood-cells. After this it seems to waken in earnest 

 to its duties and responsibilities, and takes its place 

 among the nurse-bees, setting to work with the rest 

 in the stupendous task of feeding the larvae. 



In the ordinary course, the young worker-bee 

 will not leave the hive for about a fortnight after 

 its emergence from the cell. In the interval, how- 

 ever, it has a whole policy of life to study, and 

 several trades to learn. All the indoor work of 

 the hive appears to be done by the young bees 

 during these first weeks of their existence. On 

 them the whole care and sustenance of the young 

 brood depend. They produce the wax, and build 

 the combs ; they look after the order and cleanli- 

 ness of the hive ; they are the brewers of the 

 honey, and the keepers of the stores ; they feed 

 the queen-bee on her ceaseless rounds, and also 

 give the drones their daily rations of bee-milk, for 

 it is certain that the male bees depend very largely 

 on the workers in this way, drawing only a part of 

 their diet from the common stores. The old bees 

 are the foragers ; but it is probable they are met 

 by the younger ones soon after their return to the 

 hive, and their burden of nectar, being regurgi- 

 tated, is transferred to the pouches of the young 

 bees, by whom it is carried to the store-combs in 

 the upper regions of the hive. At least, if the 



