THE EVOLUTION OF THE BEE AND THE BEEHIVE 



Fig. 5. — ^Under 

 surface of a 

 worker bee, show- 

 ing the hind legs 

 pushing out from 

 a pocket a flake of 

 wax, which will 

 be passed forward 

 to the mouth and 

 kneaded into the 

 cell of the comb. 

 (After Casteel.) 



more space with the use of less material than a structure 



of any other shape. There are about 9,000 cells in a square 



foot of honeycomb. The cells are nearly all of the 



same size and serve as the homes of the workers. Somewhat 



larger cells house the 

 drones, and other 

 deeper cells are used 

 for storing pollen or 

 honey. So accurately 

 is each comb placed 

 with regard to its 

 neighbour that the 

 space between them 

 allows only two work- 

 ing bees to pass each 

 other (Fig. 6) as they 

 carry on their cease- 

 less labor. 



The cells of the 

 drones, having to ac- 

 commodate a rather 



larger larva, are made slightly bigger, 



and in some wild honey-bees they are 



all placed together in a special drone 



comb. The cell in which the queen is 



reared is, however, altogether different. 



It is about the size of an acorn, and its 



walls are much thicker than those of the 



other cells and are usually rounded. As 



soon as the queen bee is hatched out these walls are destroyed 



and their wax is used to add more worker cells to the comb. 



An average hive (Fig. 7) will contain some 30,000 working 



bees, some 2,000 drones, and but one queen, who alone is 



[189] 



Fig. 6 . — Two 



neighbouring combs 

 of a honey-bee's 

 hive, showing the 

 shape of the ends of 

 the cells and the 

 space between adja- 

 cent combs, which is 

 just wide enough to 

 allow two bees to 

 pass. At the top, 

 where there is no 

 need for bees to pass, 

 are the larger cells 

 in which honey is 

 stored. 



