bee family would get along just as
well if they were a little less fussy, and probably she is right. Early
in the spring Mrs. Bumblebee starts out house-hunting. When she finds
the place she wants she puts some honey and pollen there, and lays an
egg on the little pile. After a while the larvas come out of the eggs.
When they have eaten what they want they make a cocoon, and curl up for
a rest while they are being made into little workers. You know, the bee
family is made up of the mother bee, who is called the queen, and many
fathers, who are called drones; all the rest are workers."

"That's something like the ants, sir, isn't it?"

"Yes, something, Jack; but you mustn't tell that story yet. Every one of
Mrs. Bumblebee's first family are workers. While the first workers are
out getting food for their brothers and sisters, Mrs. Bumblebee takes
the old cocoons which they have left behind and makes them over into
rooms for the new babies, who are to be drones and queens.

"They are very happy all summer long, but as it grows colder they begin
to shiver and shake. At last all die except the young queens, who have
crawled away from the nest and found a warm crack somewhere in which to
take a long nap. When the spring comes the young queens rub their eyes,
stretch their legs and wings, and are off looking for a home for their
coming families."

"But what kind of bee's-nest did old Paw Bear get into?" asked Hope.

"This nest was a wild honey-bee's nest. Some honey-bees are wild this
way, but most live close to the homes of men. When they live in our
gardens they live in a hive we make for them, and the families consist
of Mrs. Honey-Bee, the queen, about a hundred Mr. Honey-Bees, and many
thousands of workers. The workers are the little bees, the drones the
middle-sized ones, and the queen is the great big bee.

"Men often help the workers to build the little cells in which they
store the honey and in which the queen lays the eggs. These cells are
six-sided rooms. Every day the queen lays an egg in one of the little
rooms, and with it the workers put some pollen and honey. In three days
out comes the larva from the egg. It is a helpless creature, soft and
white, and without feet.

"Busy, busy workers are always on hand to take the best care of the
babies. The first food the nurses give them is bee jelly, which looks
something like blanc-mange. This bee jelly the workers make in their
stomach, then feed it from their o