BREEDING. 69 



the faculty of looking through a mill-stone I do mot 

 possess, and it requires about the same optical pene- 

 tration to look into one of these cells after it is sealed 

 over, as it is all perfect darkness. Suppose we drive 

 away the bees and open the cell, to give us a look at 

 the interior : the little insect stops its labor in a mo- 

 ment, probably from the effect of air and light. I 

 never could detect one in its labor. Suppose we 

 open these cells every hour after sealing; can we tell 

 anything about their progress by the appearance of 

 these cocoons, or even tell when they are finished? 

 The thickness of a dozen would not exceed common 

 writing paper. When a subject is obscure, or difficult 

 to ascertain, like this, why not tell us how they found 

 out the particulars; and if they were guessed at, be 

 honest, and say so ? When the bee leaves the cell, a 

 cocoon remains, and that is about all we hnoio about it. 



TERMS APPLIED TO YOUNG BEES. 



The young bee, when it first leaves the egg, is 

 termed grub, maggot, worm, or larva; from this state 

 it changes to the shape of the perfect bee, which is 

 'said to be three days after finishing the cocoon ; from 

 the time of this change, till it is ready to leave the 

 cell, the terms nymph, pupa, and chrysalis, are applied. 

 The lid of the drone's cell is rather more convex than 

 that of the worker's, and when removed by the young 

 bee to work its way out, is left nearly perfect ; being 

 cut off around the edges, a good coat or lining of silk 

 keeps it whole ; while the covering, of the worker's 

 cell is mostly, wax, and is pretty well cut to pieces by 



