THE BEE. 



abandoned by tbe nnrses to spin their cocoons, others issue from 

 the egg and demand the same maternal care ; so that these nurses 

 spend their whole existence in the discharge of the offices here 

 described. 



94. Although the organisation of other species of the bee does 

 not approach to the perfection of the hive-bee here described, it is 

 nevertheless worthy of attention and study. 



The humble-bees, which so far as respects their social policy, 

 compared with the hive-bee, may be regarded as rude and un- 

 civilised rustics, exhibit nevertheless marks of affection for their 

 young quite as strong as their more polished neighbours. 



Unlike the queen of the hive, the females take a considerable 

 share in the education of the young. When one of these provident 

 mothers has constructed with great labour and much skill a com- 

 modious woven cell, she furnishes it with a store of pollen moist- 

 ened with honey, and, having deposited six or seven eggs in it, 

 carefully closes the opening and all the interstices with wax ; but 

 her maternal cares do not end here. By a strange instinct, pro- 

 bably necessary to restrain an undue increase of the population, 

 the workers, while she is laying her eggs, endeavour to seize 

 them, aad, if they succeed, greedily devour them. Her utmost 

 vigilance and activity are scarcely sufficient to save them ; and it 

 is only after she has again and again repelled the murderous 

 intruders, and pursued them to the furthest verge of the nest, 

 that she succeeds in accomplishing her object ; and even when she 

 has sealed up the cell containing them, she is obliged to continue 

 to guard it for six or eight hours ; since otherwise the gluttonous 

 workers would break it open and devour the eggs. The mother is 

 conscious, however, by a heaven -inspired knowledge, of the time 

 when the eggs will cease to excite the appetites of the depredators. 



After this the cells remain unmolested until the larva issues 

 from the eggs. The maternal cares having there ceased, the 

 workers, before so eager to devour the eggs, now assume the 

 character of nurses. They know the precise hour when the larvae 

 will have consumed the stock of food, provided for them by 

 maternal care, and from that time to the period of their maturity 

 these nurses continually feed them with honey or poUen, introduced 

 in their proboscis through a small hole in the cover of the cell 

 opened for the purpose, and then carefully closed. 



95. These nursing-workers also perform another duty of a most 

 curious and interesting description. As the larva increases in 

 size, the cell, which has been appropriated to it, becomes too small 

 for its body, and in its exertions to obtain room it splits the thin 

 woven walls which confine it. The workers, who are constantly 

 on the watch for this, lose no time in repairing the breach, which 



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