THE WORKER-BEE. 71 



three weeks after the Italian bees emerged, I found the brood- 

 combs covered principally by bees of that race: and it is, hence, 

 probable that the brood is chiefly attended to and nursed by the 

 younger' bees. The evidence, however, is not so conclusive as 

 in the case of comb-building, inasmuch as they may have con- 

 gregated on the brood-combs because these are warmer than 

 the others. 



"I may add another interesting observation. The f feces in 

 the intestines of the young Italian bees was viscid and yellow; 

 that of the common or old bees was thin and limpid, like that 

 of the queen-bee. This is confirmatory of the opinion, that, for 

 the production of wax and jelly, the bees require pollen; but 

 do not need any for their own sustenance. ' ' — (B. Z., ISfb, p. 

 163. Dr. DonhofE, translated by the late S. Wagner.) 



165. There are none but gentlemen of leisure in the com- 

 monwealth of bees, but assuredly there are no such ladies, 

 whether of high or low degree. The queen 

 herself has her full share of duties, the 

 royal ofSce being no sinecure, when the 

 mother who fills it must daily deposit thou- 

 sands of eggs. 



"The eggs of bees are of a lengthened, 

 oval shape with a slight curvature, and of ^jj^, egg^in the 

 a bluish white color: being besmeared, at cell, 



the time of laying, with a. glutinous sub- 

 stance, they adhere to the bases of the cells, and remain un- 

 changed in figure or situation for three or four days; they are 

 then hatched, the bottom of each cell presenting to view a small 

 white worm." — (Bevan.) 



166. For the first three days after their hatching, these 

 worms are fed with a jelly, thought to be prepared or secreted 

 by the upper pair of glands of the worker-bees (39), which 

 are very large in the nurses. This milky food is a whitish, 

 transparent fluid, and is distributed to the larvae, as it is 

 needed. After four or perhaps five days, the larva is too 

 large for the bottom of the cell, where it was coiled up, to 

 use the language of Swammerdam, like a dog when going 



