NATURAL HISTORY OF THE BEE. 71 



'The fuU-form'd nymph clings to her close-seal'd tomb, 

 Spins her own silky shroud, and courts the gloom. 

 But, while within a seeming grave she lies. 

 What wondrous changes in succession rise ! 

 Those tiny folds, which cas'd the slimy worm, 

 Now thrown aside uncoils her length'ning form ; 

 Six radiant rings her shining shape invest. 

 The hoary corslet glitters on her breast : 

 With fearful joy she tries each salient wing, 

 Shoots her slim trunk, and points her pigmy sting.' 



Evans. 



Such is the process with a worker bee, but with 

 drones it is different. To obtain drones, some of the 

 cells in the hive are made larger than the others, as 

 explained before. In these the queen lays, — as she 

 is able to do when necessary, — a different kind of ^^ig. 

 You would not, however, know it from the others. It 

 looks just the same minute thing fastened to the 

 bottom of the cell. But, when it hatches, it takes 

 longer to become the full-grown larva ; and then, 

 when it is sealed up and spins its cocoon, the lid that 

 covers the cell is made of that different shape,, of 

 which I spoke before, much higher and rounder, so 

 that it is easily distinguished. 



Out of this cell, and its pupa state, it dees not 

 come until some four days later than a worker, that 

 is to say, on about the twenty-fifth day from the time 

 the &%% was laid. Then it comes forth, the great, 

 sturdy bee, which makes so much noise, and does so 

 little work. 



The way in which the queen is produced is one of 

 the great marvels of the hive. In due course she 

 passes through all the usual stages. First there is 



