GROWTH AXD FEEDING OF HONEYBEE LARVAE. 7 
the same season out with approximately the same weather condi- 
tions. In the case of two earlier lots from eggs of known age, not 
here recorded in detail, the larvae were sealed between 5 and 5-| 
days, the sealing beginning when the larvae were about 5 days old and 
continuing for some hours. 
The individual differences in the time of sealing are well illustrated 
by the larvae of one of these lots. These were all of equal age (with- 
in 2 hours), located on the same comb and therefore presumably 
subject to approximately identical environmental conditions. When 
the larvae were approximately 5 days old. there were 43 larvae on 
one side of the comb. Six of these were already sealed, while about 
half of the remainder showed a thin rim of wax around the mouths 
of the cells, indicating that capping had just commenced. Two and 
a quarter hours later about one-fourth of those cells open previously 
were sealed. At this rate it would require from 8 to 10 hours addi- 
tional for the sealing of all cells to be completed. Such differences 
are typical of all the lots. 
The data given for Lot 5 suggested that the sealing of the cell 
is commenced before the larva has attained maturity. To test this 
conclusion additional weighings were made from the same colony 
as follows: 
Milligrams. 
4 larv?e from cells whose edges were just beginning to 
show signs of capping averaged 137. 60 
5 larvse in which sealing was slightly more advanced aver- 
aged 142. 20 
10 larvae from cells one-fourth to one-third sealed averaged. 141. 00 
10 larvae from cells one-third to one-half sealed averaged 158. 21 
10 larvae from cells over one-half sealed averaged 157. 20 
15 larvae from freshly sealed cells averaged 158. 31 
These figures show clearly that the sealing of the cell is actually 
commenced when the larva lacks about 20 milligrams of its final 
weight, and that the larva is fed until the cap covers about one-third 
of the mouth of the cell, at which time the larva attains its maxi- 
mum weight. The completion of the cap probably occupies only a 
short space of time. The weight of mature larvae is also shown to 
be quite constant, at least for a given colony at the same season of 
the year. Only one marked divergence from the average for this 
colony was noted, this occurring in Lot 5, in which a single sealed 
larva was found to weigh 171.3 milligrams. 
EFFECTS OF UNDERFEEDING. 
It has been shown by Herms (2) and Whiting (11) for two species 
of the fly Lucilia (Z. caesar L. and L. serieata Meig.) that undersized 
flies are produced by underfed larvae. A similar condition is found in 
the boll weevil (Anthonomus grand/* Boh.), in which it is stated that 
the size of the adult varies in almost direct proportion to the abun- 
dance of the larval food supply and the length of the period of larval 
development (3). 
The following experiment was tried to determine whether the 
same relation exists between larvae and adults of the honeybee. Ten 
larvae, all decidedly below the average maximum weight, and there- 
fore not fully fed, were taken from a normal colony, weighed and 
placed in artificial cells formed by making several deep cylindrical 
