LEAF-CUTTER BEE. 277 
cell is first made, the egg placed there 
must consequently produce the first born 
bee of the family ; now, you perceive, 
that, if this bee were to force its way out- 
wards, it would derange the cells, and kill 
the other young bees in its progress. 
Lucy, So then, that poor thing must 
remain imprisoned till all the rest are 
hatched. 
Mother, No, Lucy : when the bee 
worms are going to become nymphs, 
they spin cases, lined with shining white 
silk ; and in these the nymphs instinc- 
tively place themselves with the head in- 
wards ; inwards, therefore, on becoming 
bees, they are forced to work their way, 
and there they find a passage carefully 
provided for them. For the mother bee, 
as soon as she had completed the nest, 
had dug from the surface of the earth 
to the innermost cell a subterranean path, 
through which the young bee makes its 
exit, and all the rest of the family follow 
by the same road. 
