158 FIELD ZOOLOGY. 



not flower nectar, but is made from it and holds much 

 less of water than does the nectar when it is sipped from 

 the flower by the bee. Some bee keepers insist that the 

 nurse-workers feed these first larvae on honey and bee 

 bread alone. Bee bread is made from pollen. If the 

 bee jelly is fed to these first larvae its use is discontinued 

 after two days, and then the larvae are fed on honey and 

 bee bread for three days longer. After these five days of 

 feeding, the nurse- workers roll up a mass of honey and 



A B c 



Fig. 64. — ^The honeybee, Apis melUfera. A, queen; B, drone; C, worker. 

 (^Natural size. Folsom.) 



pollen, and put it beside the larva, which by this time has 

 grown to a considerable size; they then cap the cell and 

 leave it. The larva eats a little longer, then pupates in 

 in the cell, remaining a pupa for thirteen days, after which 

 a full-grown bee appears. (Fig. 64.) This young bee stays 

 in the hive for some days, sharing in the in-door work with 

 the bees somewhat older, serving as a nurse-worker itself. 

 It would seem from some observations that have been 

 made, that only the young bees are capable of acting as 

 nurse-workers, and that they become foraging or general 

 workers at a more advanced stage of their existence. If 

 this is true, then there are no hard and fast lines of caste 

 among the workers; all serve an apprenticeship in the 



