THE SOVEREIGN WORKER-BEE 141 
On the second day it may be seen dipping into 
the open honey-vats and pollen-bins, of which a 
few are always scattered here and there among the 
brood-cells. After this it seems to waken in earnest 
to its duties and responsibilities, and takes its place 
among the nurse-bees, setting to work with the rest 
in the stupendous task of feeding the larve. 
In the ordinary course, the young worker-bee 
will not leave the hive for about a fortnight after 
its emergence from the cell. In the interval, how- 
ever, it has a whole policy of life to study, and 
several trades to learn. All the indoor work of 
the hive appears to be done by the young bees 
during these first weeks of their existence. On 
them the whole care and sustenance of the young 
brood depend. They produce the wax, and build 
the combs; they look after the order and cleanli- 
ness of the hive; they are the brewers of the 
honey, and the keepers of the stores; they feed 
the queen-bee on her ceaseless rounds, and also 
give the drones their daily rations of bee-milk, for 
it is certain that the male bees depend very largely 
on the workers in this way, drawing only a part of 
their diet from the common stores. The old bees 
bs the foragers; but it is probable they are met 
the younger ones soon after their return to the 
sjve, and their burden of nectar, being regurgi- 
‘ated, is transferred to the pouches of the young 
bees, by whom it is carried to the store-combs in 
the upper regions of the hive. At least, if the 
