494 HABITATIONS OF INSECTS. 



It appears to be the oviposition of the queen which de- 

 cides the kind of cells that are to be made : while she 

 lays the eggs of workers, no male cells are constructed ; 

 but when she is about to lay the eggs of males, the neu- 

 ters appear to know it and act accordingly. — When there 

 is a very large harvest of honey, the bees increase the 

 diameter and even the length of their cells. At this 

 time many irregular combs may be seen with cells of 

 twelve, fifteen, and even eighteen lines in length. Some- 

 times also they have occasion to shorten the cells. When 

 they wish to lengthen on old comb, the tubes of which 

 have acquired their full dimensions, they gradually di- 

 minish the thickness of its edges, gnaM'ing down the 

 sides of the cells till it assumes the lenticular form : they 

 then engraft a mass of wax round it, and so proceed 

 with new cells. 



Variations, as has been already hinted, sometimes take 

 place in the position and even form of the combs. Oc- 

 casionally the bees construct cells of the common shape 

 upon the wood to which the combs are fixed, without 

 pyramidal bottoms, and from them continue their work 

 as usual. These cells with a flat bottom, or rather with 

 the wood for their bottom, are more irregular than the 

 common ones; some of their orifices are not angular, 

 and their dimensions are not exact, but all are more or 

 less hexagonal. Once when disturbed, Huber observed 

 them to begin their combs on one of the vertical sides 

 of the hive instead of on the roof. When particular 

 circumstances caused it, as, for instance, when glass was 

 introduced, to which they do not like to fix their combs, 

 he remarked that they constantly varied their direction ; 

 and by repeating the attempt, he forced them to form 



