DBTEEMINATION OF AGK IN HONEY-BEES. 



195 



Normal Life-history of a Worker Bee in Summer. 



After laying 

 .of fertilised' 

 egg 



lst-3rd day 

 3rd-8th day 



9tlx day 



9th-22nd day 



22nd day 



fFov 1st two 

 After emer- ^^^-^^ 



gencefrom-|j,^^j^2ndto 

 ? 6th week 



cell 



Incubation of egg. 



Larva is hatched and fed by workers 



(nurse bees). 

 Cell containing larva is sealed with a 



capping of wax and pollen. 

 Larva spins a cocoon and becomes a 



pupa or chrysalis, then a perfect 



insect (imago). 

 Bites her way through capping. 

 Young bees remain in hiye acting as 



nurses, etc. 

 Fly backwards and forwards to hive 



on foraging expeditions. 



For the experimental work a revolving observatory hive 

 was fixed on the laboratory bench with its passage for exit 

 communicating with the outside air by a small hole in the 

 mullion of a window. The hive itself held only two combs 

 taken with brood and a queen from an ordinary hive. The 

 observatory hive was connected above with a glass-fronted 

 " super " containing four sections and room for more combs. 

 The bees were fed, when necessary, through holes in the top 

 of this "super." One of the ordinary glass sides of the hive 

 was replaced by a specially designed one, consisting of four 

 glass doors in narrow frames, each opening independently 

 and commanding one-half of a comb. By means of these doors 

 bees at required stages could be removed without disturbing 

 the whole hive. A record kept of the date of sealing of some 

 of the larvae enabled me to remove imagines on the eve of 

 hatching. Other bees were taken out with padded forceps 

 as they bit their way through the cappings of their cells, 

 and either used for experiment or marked and put back. 



Marking proved to be a decided difficulty. A dab of white 

 or light-coloured oil-paint on the thorax would sometimes 

 remain visible for two or three weeks if it diied quickly 

 enough and was of the correct consistency. Pigment mixed 

 with gum-arabic was no good at all, for on drying it came 



