INSTINCT OF INSECTS. 



389 



in the centre of the pyramidal bottom of the cell, where it 

 remains fixed by its natural gluten ; but in an experiment of 

 Huber, one whose fecundation had been retarded had the first 

 segments of her abdomen so swelled that she was unable to 

 reach the bottom of the cells. She therefore attached her 

 eggs (which were those of males) to their lower side, two lines 

 from the mouth. As the larvae always pass that state in the 

 place where they are deposited, those hatched from the eggs 

 in question remained in the situation assigned them. But 

 the working-bees, as if aware that in these circumstances the 

 cells would be too short to contain the larvae when fully 

 grown, added to their length, even before the eggs were 

 hatched. 1 



Bees close up the cells of the grubs, previously to their 

 transformation, with a cover or lid of wax ; and in hanging 

 its abode with a silken tapestry before it assumes the pupa 

 state, the grub requires that the cell should not be too short 

 for its movements. Bonnet having placed a swarm in a very 

 flat glass hive, the bees constructed one of the combs parallel 

 to one of the principal sides, where it was so straight that 

 they could not give to the cells their ordinary depth. The 

 queen, however, laid eggs in them, and the workers daily 

 nourished the grubs, and closed the cells at the period of 

 transformation. A few days afterwards he was surprised to 

 perceive in the lids holes more or less large, out of which the 

 grubs partly projected, the cells having been too short to admit 

 of their usual movements. He was curious to know how the 

 bees would proceed. He expected that they would pull all 

 the grubs out of the cells, as they commonly do when great 

 disorders in the combs take place. But he did not sufficiently 

 give credit to the resources of their instinct. They did not 

 displace a single grub — they left them in their cells ; but as 

 they saw that these cells were not deep enough, they closed 

 them afresh with lids much more convex than ordinary, so as 

 to give to them a sufficient depth ; and from that time no 

 more holes were made in the lids. 



The working-bees, in closing up the cells containing larvae, 



i Huber, i. 119. 



c c 3 



