THE HIVE BEE 345 



however, they turn their attention to the more vital parts of its 

 frame. And now it ceases from feeding, sickens, and finally dies. 



Meanwhile, the grubs within it have completed their develop- 

 ment, and are about to become chrysalids. So they bore their 

 way out of the now empty and shrivelled skin, and spin for them- 

 selves tiny silken cocoons, which they usually fasten upon it. In 

 these they undergo their transformation, only to become, in the 

 course of a few weeks or months, according to the weather, little 

 black flies just like that which laid her eggs in the back of the 

 caterpillar. 



The number of caterpillars destroyed by these extraordinary 

 insects is almost incredible; for of the caterpillars of the common 

 large white butterfly, which are so destructive to our cabbages and 

 cauliflowers, no fewer than ninety-five out of every hundred are 

 said to perish through their attacks. 



Very few insects escape persecution from these flies, of which 

 there are a very great number of different kinds, some 5000 species 

 being already known. Some of them lay their eggs, not only in 

 the flesh of caterpillars, but in chrysalids or pupse, and even in 

 eggs. So that an insect is not really safe from them until it has 

 attained its perfect state. 



The number of eggs which these remarkable flies deposit in the 

 bodies of their victims varies very considerably. Some ichneumons 

 lay one egg only, and the grub, when at last it kills its victim, is 

 nearly as big as the caterpillar itself Others place several hundred 

 eggs in the flesh of each victim ; and one instance is known in which 

 more than a thousand ichneumon flies were hatched out from the 

 body of a single caterpillar! 



THE HIVE BEE (Family Apid^) 



As much might be said about the Bee as would fill a whole 

 book. We may have noticed that all the bees are not quite alike. 

 Some are much stouter than others, and have their bodies rounded 

 instead of pointed, while their eyes are almost as large as all the 

 rest of the head. These are the male bees, or drones as they are 



