8 THE BOOK OF THE HONEY BEE 



upper portions of the comb, the bees frequently elongate 

 these cells considerably. 



Drone cells, i.e. cells in which drones are reared, are 

 larger than the worker cells, and measure four to the 

 inch. These cells are generally built in the lower 

 portion of the combs. 



The third variety of cell, in which the queens are 

 reared, called queen cells, are comparatively few, and 

 are only built when the bees are queenless, or in pre- 

 paration for swarming. After serving the purpose for 

 which they were built they are destroyed, and the wax 

 utilised in other ways. 



In depositing her eggs, the queen makes careful 

 examination of the cell, and if found suitable to her 

 requirements she turns round, and inserts her abdomen, 

 the length of which enables her to deposit the egg at 

 the bottom of the cell. These movements are repeated 

 with monotonous regularity, the queen being fed con- 

 tinuously by the workers. 



The eggs deposited in the cells are of two kinds 

 only, viz. worker eggs and drone eggs, and the queen 

 invariably deposits each in its proper cell, the worker 

 eggs in worker comb and the drone eggs in drone comb. 



After laying the egg, the queen has no further in- 

 terest in her progeny ; the clustering bees maintain the 

 temperature requisite to hatch out the eggs, which 

 takes place in from three to four days, the result being 

 a tiny pearly-white grub, which is at once fed by the 

 young worker bees with what has been termed " chyle 

 food " for (in the case of a worker) a period of three 

 days, then for a further period of two days the larva 

 is fed on a modified chyle food. This is usually termed 

 weaning. During all this time it casts its skin several 

 times, and grows rapidly in size, accommodating itself 

 to its limited surrounding by coiling up in the bottom 

 of the cell somewhat like the letter C. The cell is next 



