BEESj BEE-IlIVESj AND BEE CULTUEE. 9 



should be given as to the existence of the bee before it emerges 

 from the cell. 



The eggs of all the three kinds of bees when first deposited are 

 of an oval shape, and of a bluish-white colour. In four or five 

 days the egg changes to a worm, and in this stage is known by 

 the names of larva or grub, in which state it remains four to six days 

 more J during this period it is fed by the nurse-bees with a, mixture 

 of farina and honey, a constant supply of which is given to it : the 

 next transformation is to the nymph or pupa form ; the nurse- 

 bees now seal up the cell with a preparation similar to waxj and 

 and then the pupa spins round itself a film or cocoon, just as a 

 silkworm does in its chrysalis state. The microscope shows that 

 this cradle -curtain is perforated with very minute holes, through 

 which the baby-bee is duly supplied with air. IVo further attention 

 on the part of the bees is now requisite except a proper degree 

 of heat, which they take care to keep up, a position for the breeding 

 cells being selected in the centre of the hive where the temperature 

 is likely to be most congenial. 



Twenty-one days after the egg is first laid (unless cold weather 

 should have retarded it) the bee quits the pupa state, and nibbling its 

 way through the waxen covering that ias enclosed it, comes forth 

 a winged insect. In the Unicomb Observatory Hive, the young 

 bees may distinctly be seen as they literally fight their way into the 

 world, for the other bees do not take the slightest notice, nor afford 

 them any assistance. We have frequently been amused in watching 

 the eager little new-comer, now obtruding its head, and anon com- 

 pelled to withdraw into the cell, to escape being trampled on by 

 the apparently unfeeling throng, until at last it has succeeded in 

 making its exit. The little grey creature, after brushing and 

 shaking itseK, enters upon its duties in the hive, and in a day or 

 two may be seen gathering honey in the fields — some say on the day 

 of its birth, — thus early illustrating that character for industry, 

 which has been proverbial, at least, since the days of Aristotle, and 

 which has in our day been rendered familiar even to infant minds 

 through the nursery rhymes of Dr. Watts. 



Inceease of Bees. — Every one is familiar, with the natural 

 process of " swarming," by which bees provide themselves with fresh 

 space and seek to plant colonies to absorb their increase of popu- 



