CH. III.] 



THE HIVE BEE. 



53 



usually situated in the middle of the comb ; the third 

 are the royal cells. An inattentive observer might 

 perhaps be led to infer, that the various cells com- 

 posing a cake are little habitations in which the 

 workers might repose themselves after the labours 

 of the day, each in its own house. This, however, 

 is not the fact : for some of these are filled with ho- 

 ney, and others closed up. On a more careful 

 inspection, it will be seen that most of the cells 

 contain a little worm : the young of the bee — an ob- 

 ject evidently of the most anxious care and attention 

 to those appointed to watch and feed them. But al- 

 though indefatigably industrious, even these insects, 

 when tired with labour, require repose, and cease to 

 work when the ordinary motive for exertion is with- 

 drawn. It is curious to observe their mode of rest ; 

 four or five cling to a part of the hive, and extend 

 their hind legs, whence others suspend themselves 

 by their fore feet. These do the same neighbourly 

 turn for another line, and thus at all times either 

 bunches (fig. 1) or festoons (fig. 2) of bees may be 



seen reposing. Huber, however, has seen the work- 

 ers retiring sometimes to a cell, and remaining mo- 

 tionless for twenty minutes. 



E2 



