THE BEE. 



Fig. 40. 



Fig. 42. 



grown so as to toueli the opposite angU of the cell, it coik itself 

 np in the form of a circular arc, or as Swammerdam describes- 

 it, like a dog going to sleep. It floats- 

 there in a whitish transparent fluid, pro- 

 vided for it hy the nurses, on which it 

 prohably feeds during this early stage of 

 its life. Its dimensions are gradually en- 

 Fig. 41. larged until its extremities touch one ano- 

 ther, so as to form a complete ring, fig. 41, 

 in the base of the cell. In this state the 

 grub is fed with the pap or bee bread 

 already mentioned. The slightest move- 

 ment on the part of the nursing bees is^ 

 Fig. 43. sufficient to attract its attention, and it 

 eagerly opens its little jaws to receive the- 

 oifered nourishment, the supply of which, 

 presented by the nurse, is liberal without being profuse. 



The growth of the larva is completed in from four to six days,, 

 according to the temperature of the weather. In cool weather 

 the development takes two days more than in warm weather. 



When it has attained its full growth, it occupies the wholfr 

 breadth and a great part of the length of the cell. The nurses at 

 this time knowing that the moment ha^ 

 arrived at which the first metamor- 

 phosis, in which the grub is changed 

 into a nymph, takes place, discontinue 

 the supply of food, and close up the 

 mouth of the cell by a light brown 

 waxen cover, which is convex externally^ 

 This convexity of the cover is greater in the drone cells than 

 in those of the workers. The covers of the honey cells are, on 

 the contrary, made paler in colour, and quite flat or even a little- 

 concave externally. 



When the larva has been thus enclosed, it immediately com- 

 mences, like the silk-worm, to spin a cocoon. In this labour it is^ 

 incessantly employed, Uning the sides of its cell and encasing its 

 own body in a white silken robe. The threads which form this, 

 mantle issue from the middle of the under lip of the nymph, as 

 the insect in this intermediate state between that of the grub and 

 the perfect bee is called. This thread consists of two filaments,, 

 which, issuing from two adjoining oriflces in the spinner, are thea 

 gummed together. 



106. The nymph of a worker spins its robe in thirty-six hours, 

 and after passing three days in this preparatory state, it undergoes- 

 so great a change as to lose every vestige of its previous form. It 

 50 



Fig. 44. 



