THE BEE. 105 



After they have been thus treated for a few days, 

 the nurses discontinue the supply of food, and close 

 up the orifice of the cell with wax. This operation 

 they perform by applying a series of concentric rings 

 of gradually decreasing circumference, one within 

 another, until there is nothing left but a small hole 

 in the centre, which is then blocked up with a par- 

 ticle of wax. As soon as the cell is closed, the in- 

 mate sets to work and spins a cocoon of silk (which 

 the gweera-larva accomplishes in about twenty-four 

 hours, the worker in thirty-six), and then rests for 

 two or three days. At the end of this time it assumes 

 the pupa-ioTva., undergoing the metamorphosis from 

 the worm-structure to that of the insect (already 

 described) ; and when this is complete, the imago, or 

 ftdly-developed insect, first frees itself from its silken 

 envelope, and then, forcing open the lid of its prison- 

 house by means of its head and mandibles, makes its 

 escape a perfect Bee. 



The time occupied from the deposition of the egg 

 to the final appearance of the insect is, for the queen 

 sixteen days, for the worker about twenty, and for 

 the drone twenty-four days. 



" How wonderful is this circumstance ! " says M. 

 Vogt*. "Here, too, in the Animal Kingdom, the 

 members of the royal fanuly have the privilege of at- 

 taining their majority, and exercising their legal rights, 

 before their fellow-creatures. For the education of the 

 poor worker, who must indeed learn to collect honey 

 * ' Unterauchungen in den Thierstaaten.' 



P 5 



