MANAGEMENT OF HONEY BEES. 81 
dually a perceptible flavor of honey, and be- 
comes more and more saccharine and trans- 
parent, in proportion as the larva advances 
in growth. It is indescribable,the care which 
the workers lavish on these little nurslings: 
towards whom they seem to cherish the ten- 
derest attachment. A comb filled with brood, 
and placed in an empty hive, never fails to 
retain them there, to the utter disregard of 
the loss of their stores. 'The tenderest mo- 
ther could not watch over her children with 
more affection, nor supply them with nourish- 
ment more impartially, or in greater abun- 
dance ; at the same time it is done without 
waste, for the quantity is so proportioned to 
the demand, that none of it remains in the 
cells where the larve undergo their trans- 
formation to the nymph state. At the mo- 
ment of being hatched, the insect presents 
the appearance of a small straight worm ; 
it quickly grows so as to touch the sides of 
the cell, when it contracts its body, and coils 
itself into a semi-circular figure, and conti- 
nues enlarging its dimensions till the extre- 
