SUMMARYWorker bees remove the tip of a capped queen cell at some time before the emergence of the queen from it. In contrast, worker and drone cells are not interfered with. The observations described support the hypothesis that a secretion produced by the larva spinning its cocoon has an inhibitory action which prevents workers chewing its wax covering. The queen's cocoon does not reach to the lower end of her cell, and it is the tip beyond the surface of contact between cocoon and cell that is removed by the bees.