Page:Jardine Naturalist's library Bees.djvu/90

86 attach the egg to it; but, in fact, the Queen lays when the cell is merely founded, and not deeper than that of a common bee, and it is not until the precious deposit has been made, that the workers lengthen it to the full size. The egg destined to produce a Queen, like that which is laid in a drone-cell and that of a worker, is three days old before it is hatched; as soon as this takes place, the royal larva becomes an object of devoted attention to the bees, who watch over and feed it with unremitting attention and care. "It is difficult," says M. Feburier, "to form an idea of the anxious care and attention bestowed by the bees on the royal larva. The comparison of the affection of a mother for an only child can alone furnish any thing like a conception of it. They seem to feel that their own fate is involved in that of their young sovereign; they feed her with a jelly different from that which is destined for the workers and males; it is more pungent, and moderately acid; and they supply it in such profusion that she is unable to consume it all, for, after her transformation, some remains of it are found at the bottom of the cell."

At the end of the fifth day of the larva state, the royal cell is closed, and the inhabitant begins spinning her cocoon. It is worthy of remark, that this covering is left incomplete, unlike those of the workers and males, which inclose the whole body. This fact beautifully demonstrates the admirable art with which the Author of nature has connected the various characteristics of this interesting tribe of his creatures. And the fact now under consideration is one of no