CHAPTER XXIX 
THE BEE-MILK MYSTERY 
AMONG the innumerable scraps of more or less 
erroneous information on hive-life, dished up 
by the popular newspapers in course of the year’s 
round, there is occasionally one which is sure to 
grip the curious reader’s attention. No one expects 
nowadays to read of the honey-bee without being 
set agape at the marvellous; but, really, when he is 
gravely told that the nurse-bees in a hive actually 
give the breast to their young, suckling them with 
a secreted liquid which is nothing more or less than 
milk, the ordinarily faithful newspaper student is 
entitled to be for once incredulous. 
The thing, however, in spite of its grotesque 
improbability, comes nearer to the plain truth than 
many another item of bee-life more often encountered 
and unquestionably accepted. There are veritable 
nurse-bees in a hive, and these do produce some- 
thing not unlike milk. In about three days after 
the egg has been deposited in the comb-cell by the 
queen, or mother-bee, a tiny white grub emerges. 
The feeding of this grub is immediately commenced 
by the bees in charge of the nursery quarters of the 
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