1 24 The Honey-Makers 



surrounded by it as soon as they hatch ; indeed, they are 

 partly suspended in it, probably absorbing it through the 

 skin as well as taking it through the mouth. 



The queen larva feeds upon "royal jelly" for about five 

 and a half days, while the worker larva receives its less 

 nutritious food for only five days, and the drone larva feeds 

 for about six days. 



During this time the bee grows from a tiny egg to about 

 its full size, increasing from twelve to fifteen hundred times 

 its weight, and consuming an amount of food that leaves 

 no opportunity for idleness to the nurse-bees that supply 

 these ravenous infants. 



During the period of growth the larval bee, in common 

 with the larvae of other insects, finds its skin too small for 

 its body and consequently sheds or casts off the uncomfort- 

 able covering half-a-dozen times. These cast-off skins are 

 so extremely fine and delicate that for ages they escaped 

 observation, and until very recent times it was believed the 

 bee-larva did not shed its skin. 



Finally, the nurse-bees put a porous cap or cover of wax 

 and bee-bread over the cradle cells, and leave the occupants 

 to their own devices. 



Evidently they know the difference between the worker- 

 bee and the drone, as they put flat caps over the worker 

 cells and convex ones over the drones. 



As soon as they are capped over, the imprisoned infants 

 proceed to spin a delicate cocoon about the upper part of 

 the cell, covering the head and extending partly over the 

 body, the silk for it being supplied by certain glands in the 

 head, and first appearing in the form of a liquid, which, 

 being drawn out through an opening in the lip like thin 

 threads of saliva, hardens into a tough, fine silk. The 

 glands that yield the silk disappear in the adult queen and 

 drone, but in the worker are transformed into the secreting 



