BREEDING. 
69 
the faculty of looking through a mill-stone I do not 
possess, and it requires about the same optical pene- 
tration to look into one of these cells after it is sealed 
over, as it is all perfect darkness. Suppose we drive 
away the bees and open the cell, to give us a look at 
the interior : the little insect stops its labor in a mo- 
ment, probably from the effect of air and light. I 
never could detect one in its labor. Suppose we 
open these cells every hour after sealing; can we tell 
anything about their progress by the appearance of 
these cocoons, or even tell when they are finished? 
The thickness of a dozen would not exceed common 
writing paper. When a subject is obscure, or difficult 
to ascertain, like this, why not tell us how they found 
out the particulars ; and if they were guessed at, be 
honest, and say so ? When the bee leaves the cell, a 
cocoon remains, and that is about all we know about it. 
TERMS APPLIED TO YOUNG BEES. 
The young bee, when it first leaves the egg, is 
termed grub, maggot, worm, or larva; from this state 
it changes to the shape of the perfect bee, which is 
said to be three days after finishing the cocoon ; from 
the time of this change, till it is ready to leave the 
cell, the terms nymph, pupa, and chrysalis, are applied. 
The lid of the drone’s cell is rather more convex than 
that of the worker’s, and when removed by the young 
bee to work its way out, is left nearly perfect ; being 
cut off around the edges, a good coat or lining of silk 
keeps it whole; while the covering of the worker’s 
cell is mostly wax, and is pretty well cut to pieces by 
