The young worker-bee, at the end of about three weeks from its first inception, breaks from its chrysalis-skin, and begins to gnaw its way through the cell-cover. The pollen, which is combined with the wax to form this capping, discharges a double office. It makes the wax porous for the admittance of air, and it renders the cell-cover edible, thus causing the young bee to effect its own release through the promptings of its appetite. The new-born worker, although fully grown, is a weak, greyish-hued, flaccid creature for some time after it leaves its cradle. Its earliest impulse seems to be to groom itself, and then to wander about on a tour of inspection of its as yet narrow world of gloom and noise and bustle. For the first day or two it does little else than crawl about unnoticed in the busy throng, gradually gaining strength and rigidity of limb. [Picture: Brood-comb, showing eggs, larvæ in different stages of growth, sealed cells, and young bees cutting their way out] On the second day it may be seen dipping into the open honey-vats and pollen-bins, of which a few are always scattered here and there among the brood-cells. After this it seems to waken in earnest to its duties and responsibilities, and takes its place among the nurse-bees, setting to work with the rest in the stupendous task of feeding the larvæ. In the ordinary course, the young worker-bee will not leave the hive for about a fortnight after its emergence from the cell. In the interval, however, it has a whole policy of life to study, and several trades to learn. All the indoor work of the hive appears to be done by the young bees during these first weeks of their existence. On them the whole care and sustenance of the young brood depend. They produce the wax, and build the combs; they look after the order and cleanliness of the hive; they are the brewers of the honey, and the keepers of the stores; they feed the queen-bee on her ceaseless rounds, and also give the drones their daily rations of bee-milk, for it is certain that the male bees depend very largely on the workers in this way, drawing only a part of their diet from the common stores. The old bees are the foragers; but it is probable they are met by the younger ones soon after their return to the hive, and their burden of nectar, being regurgitated, is transferred to the pouches of the young bees, by whom it is carried to the store-combs in the upper regions of the hive. At least, if the storage-chamber of a hive be opened during the busy part of the day, hardly any old bees will be seen among the crowd, which is industriously filling the cells with the new-gathered sweets.