100 



Beekeeping 



The nervous system is now well organized, consisting of the 

 brain and a chain of gangUa arranged segmentally. The 

 second maxillae fuse to form the lower Up {Lb) . 



Larval development. 



At the end of about three days of embryonic development, 

 the embryo breaks the chorion and becomes a young larva. 

 Dining the larval period the most striking feature is the 

 enormous growth of the animal. The illustration on page 

 40 (Fig. 35) shows an egg, a relatively young larva, a fully 



grown larva and a pupa 

 drawn to the same scale 

 and, when it is realized 

 that the growth from 

 the youngest larva to 

 the fully grown larva 

 takes place in a few 

 days, the rapidity of 

 growth is astonishing. 



It should be pointed 

 out that the development 

 of all insects is not simi- 

 lar. In the grasshopper, 

 for example, a young 

 insect hatches from the egg which resembles the adult in 

 most respects. Such a development is known as incomplete 

 metamorphosis. In the higher orders of insects, there 

 hatches from the egg a larva unlike the adult and usually 

 more or less worm-hke, which when fully fed undergoes a 

 complete and relatively sudden change into the adult. This 

 type of development is known as complete metamorphosis. 

 The bee larva is an extremely simple organism, lacking 

 legs, wings, anteimse apd eyes, and is unprotected by hairs 

 or thick chitin. A longitudinal section through the larva 

 (Fig. 52) shows that the largest organ is the stomach, as 

 is necessary for excessive growth. Being protected from 

 enemies and from adverse environmental conditions in the 



Fig. 52. — Diagram of a longitudinal me- 

 dian section of a bee larva. 



