240 BEES AND BEE-KEEPING. 



gradually sinks. The chorion of the egg (C, Fig. 46) 

 breaks, usually after three days (the time varies 

 according to temperature), and a footless larva, with 

 thirteen segments, exclusive of the head, alternately 

 straightens and bends its body to free itself of the 

 envelope. It is extremely curious that, before hatch- 

 ing, the larva presents rudimentary legs, which dis- 

 appear — a fact which some have supposed to indicate 

 (atavism) a reference to an ancestral type in which 

 the larva bore feet ; but this does not seem to be 

 valid, for reasons which would encroach too much on 

 our space Towards the end of the larval period, the 

 three segments following the head (1, 2, 3, A and 

 B, Fig. 47) have little scales (/) beneath the skin 

 on the ventral side, which are the beginnings of 

 the legs, and which cannot be seen until the creature 

 has been immersed in alcohol; the budding wings 

 (w) outside these, on segments 2 and 3, are, by the 

 same treatment, brought under view, as are also the 

 rudiments of the sting in queen or worker larvae 

 (Chapter XII.), the male organs appearing in that of 

 the drone. After sealing, the fourth segment begins 

 to contract, and the fifth becomes partly atrophied, 

 so that, soon, the former constitutes only a partial 

 cover for the base of the developing thorax, and the 

 petiole between it and the abdomen, while the 

 latter becomes the narrow, first abdominal segment. 

 At page 196, it has been explained that the last 

 three segments disappear in forming the sting ; and 

 now we find the fourth forming the petiole, leaving 

 nine of the thirteen original segments, of which three 

 go to the thorax, and six to the abdomen. 



