BREEDING. ~;1 



statements of different authors; hence I conclude 

 that no writer can tell, from a single stand-point, 

 what time it requires for brood to mature. 



The nursing bees now seal up the cell with a light 

 brown cover, more or less convex. The cap of the 

 drone cells is more convex than that of the worker, 

 and thus differing from the honey cells, which are 

 composed of pure wax, and are whiter and somewhat 

 concave. The larva is no sooner perfectly inclosed 

 than it begins to labor, alternately extending and 

 shortening its body, whilst it lines the cell by spin- 

 ning around itself, after the manner of the silk 

 worm, a whitish silky film or cocoon, which adheres 

 firmly to the walls of the cell, remaining there after 

 the bee emerges. It may appear somewhat extraor- 

 dinary that a creature that takes its food so vora- 

 ciously prior to assuming the pupa state, should live 

 so long without any; but it seems when it has at- 

 tained to the pupa state it has reached its full growth, 

 and probably the nutriment taken so greedily is to 

 serve as a store for developing the perfect insect. 

 When in the pupa or chrysalis state, it presents no ap- 

 pearance of external members, and retains no very 

 marked indications of life; but within its case its 

 organs are gradually and fully developing, and its 

 integuments hardening and consolidating. 



The working bee nymph spins its cocoons in thirty- 

 six hours. After passing about three days in this 

 state of preparation for a new existence, it gradually 

 undergoes so great a change as not to retain a vestige 

 of its previous form, but becomes armed with scales 

 7 



