MANAGEMENT OF HONEY BEES. , 93 
in Bee economy ; for, were the queen’s co- 
coon completely to envelope her body, her de- 
struction by her rivals would be rendered ex- 
tremely difficult, the texture of the covering 
is so close, that the sting would be unable to 
penetrate it; or, if the attempt were made, it 
might be entangled by its barbs, in the 
meshes of the cocoon, and the struggling fe- 
male, unable to disengage it, would become 
the victim of her own fury. In spinning the 
cocoon, the queen’ spends only twenty-four 
hours, she remains in a death-like torpidity 
between two and three days, is then meta- 
morphosed into a nymph, and, after remain- 
ing in that state four days and a half, she 
comes forth a perfect queen on the sixteenth 
day. In the case of the workers and males, 
the transformation is no sooner completed 
than they are at liberty to abandon the con- 
finement of the cradle, and hasten,—the 
former, at least, to partake of the labors of 
the community, and to range the fields and 
flower gardens in the very plenitude of Bee 
enjoyment. But the case is different with 
