I30 The Bee People. 



into drones. The queen is able to fertilize 

 the eggs, or not, as she pleases. 



As soon as an egg is laid, the queen pays 

 no further attention to it. It is now the 

 turn of the nurse-bees. The nurse-bees 

 are the younger ones that have not yet 

 gone out of the hive. 



For about three days after the tgg is laid, 

 you could see no change in it. 



Perhaps you think it needs no attention, 

 but a hen would not think so. She knows 

 that eggs have to be kept warm in order 

 to hatch, and so she sits on her own eggs 

 with her feathers tucked down warm all 

 about them. Miss Apis, too, understands 

 that eggs need to be kept warm. She has 

 no feathers, but she has a warm little fuzzy 

 body, and when the eggs are laid, she and 

 her sisters cluster over the comb to keep 

 them warm. 



The ancients neld a good many wrong 

 ideas, and a good many right ones, about 

 bees, and our Latin friend Pliny was not 



