THE HIVE BEE. 



51 



CH. III.] 



posited it there exactly in the order and direction 

 pointed out." 



The result of this series of operations was a little 

 block of wax, fixed to the vault of the hive, running' 

 in a straight line, rugged in surface, but circular in 

 its edges, half an inch long, one-sixth of an inch high, 

 and about the twenty-fourth part of an inch thick. 

 The wax-workers, or common labourers, having de- 



posited the requisite stock of materials, an architect, 

 or nurse-bee, quitted the cluster, inspected both sides 

 of the block, felt here and there with its antennae, 



Fig. 1 and 2, represent the mode of making the first cells 

 Fig. 3. The hexagonal shape of the perfect cell. 



