70 



AUSTRALASIAN 



it is coated. It is very small, and not round or oval like a 

 bird's egg, but long, like a small worm or maggot. It is, how- 

 ever, a true egg, and presents, when greatly magnified, the 

 appearance shown. 



It appears covered with a sort of delicate network, which is, 

 in fact, its shell, and it has a yolk and surrounding white, or 

 albumen, like all eggs of birds or reptiles. When deposited in 

 a worker cell, it remains unchanged in outward appearance for 

 three days, when the larva first appears as a minute worm, and 

 goes through the stages of development shown in the following 

 figure ; the numbers underneath denoting the age, in days, 

 from the laying of the egg. 



1 3 4 5 7 15 18 

 Fig, 20,— FROM THE EGG TO THE BEE. 



The larva, when it emerges from the egg, is fed by the 

 workers, which act as nurses, with a mixture of bee-bread, 

 honey, and water, the two first-mentioned materials having 

 undergone a partial digestion in the stomachs of the bees, and 

 been converted into a species of chyle. Whether the water is 

 mixed with the food so prepared, or is required for the process 

 of digestion to prepare it, certain it is that during the breeding 

 time great numbers of bees are to be seen imbibing water, and 

 bringing it to the hive. This process of feeding the larvae 

 continues five days for the workers and six and a half days for 

 the drones, and the cells are then capped with a mixture of 

 wax and pollen, which forms a safe covering for the cells, but 

 is sufficiently porous to admit the air necessary for the life of 

 the larva and pupa, or nymph, during its period of metamor- 

 phosis. As soon as the cell is closed, the grub begins to spin a 

 web or cocoon round itself ; this spinning goes on for thirty-six 

 hours, when the cocoon is complete, and then ensues a period 

 of rest, or apparent rest, and subsequent metamorphosis, during 

 which time a wonderful transformation is going on from hour 



