334 Insects and their Surroundings 



waxen cells of the bees, forming the familiar honey- 

 comb (fig. 175), are hollow, hexagonal prisms, set in 

 two series back to back, divided by a partition. Some 

 cells are devoted to the rearing of grubs, while others 

 serve as store-houses for honey and pollen (fig. 176). 

 Towards the outer margin of the comb are the large, 

 irregularly shaped -"queen cells," wherein the grubs 



Fig. 17s. — Comb of Indian Honey-bee (A/is JJorea, Fb.). \ natural 

 size. From Benton, Bull, i (n.s.), Div. Ent. U.S. Dept. Agr. 



destined to develop into queens are fed on richer and 

 more abundant food than falls to the share of those 

 which will grow only into workers. The same grub 

 will produce a female bee with developed or vestigial 

 ovaries (see fig. 51) according to the food which it 

 receives. The earliest food of all the grubs is a 

 nutritious fluid secreted by glands in the worker's head. 



