DOMESTIC ECONOMY OF THE HIVE 9 



sealed over with a convex porous capping of wax and 

 pollen, after which the imprisoned larva completes its 

 last moult, spins a cocoon, and is now variously 

 termed chrysalis, pupa, or nymph. Finally, in about 

 twenty - one days from the laying of the egg, the 

 insect emerges from its little prison, a perfect bee, 

 liberating itself by biting its way through the capping 

 of the cell. This last process can often be observed 

 when removing combs from "driven" skeps, and can 

 then be conveniently watched. In appearance the young 

 bee is much lighter in colour than her elder sisters. 

 The day following her birth she commences her work 

 as a nurse bee, feeding the young larvae with chyle food 

 as previously described, in which occupation she con- 

 tinues for about a fortnight, after which she flies abroad 

 as a gatherer of nectar or pollen. 



Drone eggs take rather longer to complete their 

 various metamorphoses, the perfect insect emerging on 

 the twenty-fourth day after the egg is laid. The sealed 

 drone brood is to be distinguished from sealed worker 

 brood, firstly, by its being deposited in the larger 

 drone cells ; secondly, by the greater convexity of the 

 cappings. Both are distinguished from sealed honey by 

 the cappings being much darker in colour, owing to the 

 admixture with pollen. Honey, as a rule, is only stored 

 in the upper portions of the comb. 



It now remains to consider the manner in which the 

 queen bee originates. It was stated in the earlier portion 

 of this chapter that the queen laid eggs of two kinds 

 only, viz., those destined to produce workers and those 

 for the production of drones. If from any cause the 

 bees require a new queen they construct queen cells. 

 These are of a special shape and size, and are usually 

 built upon the edges of the combs. In appearance they 

 resemble acorn cups, and hang downwards. The larva 

 produced from an ordinary worker egg laid in such 3 



