METAMORPHOSIS 73 



but they are the same depth. As the body of 

 the drone is longer, extra room is made for him 

 by providing a dome-shaped cap when he is ready 

 to undergo his final change. 



The eggs are cylindrical in shape, rounded 

 at each end, one, the head, being somewhat 

 thicker. They are affixed by the tail portion 

 to the bottom of the cell, and stand up in an 

 oblique position towards its mouth. In three 

 days the young grub hatches out. It is, like its 

 eggs, quite white and pearly-looking, and com- 

 mences, almost immediately, to assume the 

 characteristic semi-circular appearance so familiar 

 to all bee-keepers. It is given only a very little of 

 the special food by the nurse bees at first. 



What the special nature of this food is has been 

 exhaustively studied by various scientists and 

 carefully analysed,. It is undoubtedly produced 

 by honey being passed through the chyle stomach 

 of the nurse bees. Some think a special secretion 

 is added as it is passed up for the feeding of the 

 grub. Whatever the food is, it is extremely 

 nourishing and easily assimilated, for not only does 

 the grub absorb it by its mouth, but it also bathes 

 in it and absorbs it without any waste matter 

 being produced. 



All the grubs are fed on this food for the first 

 three days and those of the queen for the whole 

 time during which she is fed, but on the fourth 

 day the workers and drones are weaned, the 



