88 
UNDER THE PLANTAIN LEAF 
beginning of spring until the cold 
weather comes, you will know that 
it is no small task to feed our 
larvae.” 
“Of course, of course,” said the 
ant and the wasp together. 
“I have heard,” continued the 
bee, “a queer story of the way in 
which our present queen came 
to her place. It seems that our 
first queen was accidentally killed 
when every queen cell was empty, 
so without loss of time the cell of 
a worker less than three days old 
was selected. This cell was enlarged 
by tearing down the surrounding 
cells. Then the larva inside it was 
immediately fed royal food. For 
several days it was carefully watched 
