1 6 THE ECONOMY OF THE HIVE 



others differ so completely in the successive 

 periods that without complementary circum- 

 stances, it would be impossible to believe that 

 the four different creatures were one and the 

 same. These changes are known as the trans- 

 formations or metamorphosis of insects, and in the 

 bee they are as nearly complete as could well be 

 imagined. 



Since " all life from eggs " has taken its place 

 as a more or less established dictum, we commence 

 with the egg. There is no apparent difference 

 between the eggs of workers, queens, or drones. 

 In point of fact, the eggs are really the same in 

 all cases, except that the worker and queen eggs 

 are fertilised by a special process before being 

 deposited in the cells prepared for them. More 

 of this anon. 



The egg being laid in a cell, there hatches from 

 it a white grub, which grows rapidly under the 

 influence of congenial temperature and nutritious 

 food. At first, it lies at the bottom of the cell in 

 the form of a crescent, when it is seen to be 

 made up of several segments, stout in the middle 

 and tapering towards each end of the body. Its 

 diet is very special for the first day or so, but 

 afterwards it is fed on rather coarser food, and 

 gradually grows until, no longer able to lie curled 

 up at the bottom of the cell, it stretches its head 

 towards the mouth of it. When it has reached 

 its full size, its supply of food is cut off and its 



