88 TREATISE ON THE 
reception of another egg, or for honey or fa- 
rina. 
I have hitherto confined my observations 
to the progress of a worker, from the egg to 
the state of the perfect insect. The same 
process takes place in the case of the males 
and of the queen, though with some differ- 
ence as to the time occupied in the trans- 
formation. Like those of the common Bees, 
the eggs of the males are hatched in three 
days, the larva state continues six and a half 
days, and after having formed their cocoons 
and been metamorphosed into nymphs, they 
attain to the state of perfect insects on the 
twenty-fourth day. I may briefly notice here 
the statement of Huber respecting the order 
in which the different kinds of eggs are ar- 
arranged:in the ovarium of the queen, and the 
law which regulates her laying. He says, 
that nature does not allow the queen the 
choice of the eggs she is to lay, that, it is or- 
dained she shall, at a certain time of the year, 
produce those of males, and, at another time, 
the eggs of workers, an order which cannot 
be inverted ; that the eggs‘ are not indiscri- 
