AFFECTION OF INSECTS FOR THEIR YOUNG. 317 



if to see that the young ones have every thing necessary ; 

 which being ascertained by a glance, they immediately pro- 

 ceed, and stop only when they find a cell almost exhausted of 

 food. That the office of these purveyors is no very simple 

 affair will be admitted, when it is understood that the food of 

 all the grubs is not the same, but that it varies according to 

 their age, being insipid when they are young, and, when they 

 have nearly attained maturity, more sugary and somewhat 

 acid. The larvae destined for queen-bees, too, require a food 

 altogether different from that appropriated to those of drones 

 and workers. It may be recognised by its sharp and pungent 

 taste. 



So accurately is the supply of food proportioned to the 

 wants of the larv£e, that when they have attained their full 

 growth and are ready to become nymphs, not an atom is left 

 unconsumed. At this period, intuitively known to their as- 

 siduous foster-parents, they terminate their cares by sealing 

 up each cell with a lid of wax, convex in those containing the 

 larvae of drones, and nearly flat in those containing the larvae 

 of workers, beneath which the enclosed tenants spin in 

 security their cocoon. In all these labours neither the 

 queen nor the drones take the slightest share. They fall 

 exclusively upon the workers, who, constantly called upon 

 to tend fresh broods, as those brought to maturity are disposed 

 of, devote nearly the whole of their existence to these ma- 

 ternal offices. 



Humble-bees^, which in respect of their general policy 

 must, when compared with bees and wasps, be regarded as 

 rude and untutored villagers, exhibit, nevertheless, marks of 

 affection to their young quite as strong as their more polished 

 neighbours. The females, like those of wasps, take a con- 

 siderable share in their education. When one of them has 

 with great labour constructed a commodious waxen cell, she 

 next furnishes it with a store of pollen moistened with honey ; 



1 Dr. Johnson was ignorant of the etymology of this word. It is clearly de- 

 rived from the German Hummel or Hummel Biene, a name probably given it 

 from its sound. Our English name would be more significant were it altered 

 to Humming-bee or Booming-hee. 



