ITALIAN QUEEN BEE 45 



I explored them solicitously. The tops of 

 some of these arched cells were being thinned 

 by scraping within and without, and some 

 were loose like my own had once been, hold- 

 ing only by the hinge. From under these 

 lids the feelers of hundreds of Chaps were 

 being thrust out, and some had all their 

 thorax above the crest. I immensely ad- 

 mired them as far as I could see their bodies 

 and discern their manners, and wee little 

 yoices were trying to say "Bosh, Bosh" 

 from now on faster and faster all the while. 

 As I leisurely crept around in my curiosity 

 to explore those combs of hatching brood, 

 I found more and more adult Maids who 

 had returned from the fields, besides some 

 who had just made their first trip out and 

 back, and both were pumping nectar from 

 their honey sacs into cells that were either 

 partly filled or empty. I saw literally thou- 

 sands of capped over cells out of which hosts 

 of Maids were trying to emerge, just as the 

 Chaps were doing, and thousands also that 

 had new little white eggs in them recently 



