106 HUMBLE CREATURES. 



and pollen^ construct the comb^ and nurse the young ; 

 for the development of such a poor faithful, obedient 

 wightj more time is needed than for the head of the 

 State, on whom devolve the serious cares and respon- 

 sibilities of government. Has mankind learnt this 

 lesson from the Bee ? " 



But the labours of the worker in regard to the 

 tending of the brood do not end here. After the 

 young insect, be it worker, drone, or queen, has 

 effected its escape, a number of busy nurses at once 

 set to work and prepare the vacated ceU for the recep- 

 tion of another egg. Pirst one enters, and, searching 

 for the pupa-case, drags it forth and carries it away 

 to the entrance of the hive ; a second follows and 

 brings away the exuviae from the larva; and then 

 other succeeding bees clear off every particle of refuse, 

 leaving only a portion of the silken cocoon, which 

 gives additional strength to the cell. 



Returning now to the history of the queen, we are 

 told that, during her progress from cell to cell for the 

 purpose of oviposition, she is accompanied by from 

 four to twelve workers, who provide her with honey, 

 and, watching aU her movements, take care that she 

 lays only one egg in each cell ; or in case she should 

 deposit more, as sometimes happens, they remove 

 aU but one, and place them elsewhere *. She usually 

 lays from two to six eggs in succession, and then rests 

 awhile; and according to Eeaumur she will thus 

 deposit about 300 eggs in one day. The total num- 

 * Kirby and Spence. 



