The Eggs of Bees. I35 



by careful experiment. It is hardly necessary to say that 

 there is no truth in the statement that the sting is used to 

 polish the comb; nor do I think there is any shadow of 

 foundation for the statement that poison from the sting is 

 dropped into the honey-cells to preserve the honey. The 

 formic acid of honey doubtless comes from the honey- 

 stomach. 



The workers hatch from impregnated eggs, which can 

 only come from a queen that has met a drone, and are 

 always laid in the small, horizontal cells (Fig. 53, c). 

 These eggs are in no wise different, so far as we can see, 

 from those which are laid in the drone or queen-cells. All 

 are cylindrical and slightly curved (Fig. 24, a, 5) and are 

 fastened by one end to the bottom of the cell, and a little 

 to one side of the center. Girard says that the egg on the 

 first day stands oblique to the bottom of the cell, is more 

 inclined the second day, and is horizontal the third day. 

 As in other animals, the eggs from different queens vary 

 perceptibly in size. As already shown, these are volun- 

 tarily fertilized by the queen as she extrudes them, prepar- 

 atory to fastening them to the cells. These eggs, though 

 small — one-sixteenth of an inch long, may be easily seen 

 by holding the comb so that the light will shine into the 

 cells. With experience they are detected almost at once, 

 but I have often found it quite difficult to make the novice 

 see them, though very plainly visible to my experienced 

 eye. 



The egg hatches in three days. The larva, ( Fig. 24, «f, 

 «,/"), incorrectly called grub, maggot — and even caterpillar, 

 by Hunter — is white, footless, and lies coiled up in the cell 

 till near maturity. It is fed a whitish fluid, the chyle 

 already described, though this seems to be given grudg- 

 ingly, as the larva never seems to have more than it wishes 

 to eat, so it is fed quite frequently by the mature workers. 

 It would seem that the woi-kers fear an excessive develop- 

 ment, which, as we have seen, is most mischievous and 

 ruinous, and work to prevent the same by a mean and 

 meager diet. Not only do the worker larvse receive the 

 chyle grudgingly, but just at the last, before the cell is 

 sealed, they are fed chyme, for undigested pollen is found in 



