Development of the Bee. 

 Fig. 29. 



93 



'^iiiiir^i 





Development of the Bee. 



excessive development, which, as we have seen, is most mis- 

 chievous and ruinous, and work to prevent the same by a. 

 mean and meager diet. The food is composed of pollen and 

 honey. Certainly of pollen, for, as I have repeatedly proved, 

 without pollen no brood will be reared. Probably some honey 

 is incorporated, as sugar is an essential in the nutrition of all 

 animals, and we could hardly account for the excessive 

 amount of honey consumed, while breeding, by the extra 

 amount consumed by the bees consequent upon the added 

 exercise required in caring for the brood. M. Quinby, Doo- 

 little, and others, say water is also an element of this food. 

 But bees often breed very rapidly when they do not leave the 

 hive at all, and so water, other than that contained in the 

 honey, etc., cannot be added. The time when bees seem to 

 need water, and so repair to the rill and the pond, is during 

 the heat of spring and summer, when they are most busy. 

 May this not be quaffed for the most part to slake their own 

 thirst? 



In eight days from the laying of the egg, the worker cell, 

 like the queen cell, is capped over by the worker-bees. This 

 cap is composed of pollen and wax, so it is darker, more 



