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. iw 
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. 
La 
hay 
Se BO Ie ie 
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 larve 
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 
