1 aap Fig.334.— Cells from a Humble Bee's nest. 
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wt The wax of which they are composed has none of the qualities of 
| tm that of hive bees, but is soft, sticky, and brownish. 
aa When the mother humble bee, which at first was alone and built 

362 THE INSECT WORLD. 
The cells which compose tle nest, and which are to receive 
the larve of the insect, are of an oval shape, and of a pale yellow 
or even of a blackish colour. Fig. 334 represents these cells. 








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her house single-handed, has made a certain number of cells, she 
seeks for honey and pollen and prepares a paste, which she deposits 

9 in the future cradles. She then lays six or seven eggs in each. 
ee The larvee which come from them live in common, at the same 
| es table, under the same tent. The cell is at first only the size of a | 
"y pea; it soon becomes too narrow, splits and cracks, and requires — 
[3 to be enlarged and repaired many times, a work of which our | 
= industrious insects acquit themselves with a good deal of care and | 
oe attention. Before passing into the pupa state, each larva spins for 
rt itself a shell or cocoon of very fine white silk. It ceases to eat, 
remains at first rolled up, then expands itself little by little, and 
changes its skin after three days. It passes fifteen days in the 
pupa state in a quiescent condition. After the normal time has | 
elapsed for it to remain in its hiding-place, it delivers itself from | 
its mummy-like covering, with the help of the mother or the | 
workers. The humble bee then appears, robust, and its body 
covered with a greyish down. 
When the successive hatchings have furnished to the mother | 
the reinforcement she is waiting for, the workers she has laid 

