46 NATURAL HISTORY. [CH. IH. 



says Huber, " honey had been placed in a window, 

 where the bees resorted to it in multitudes. It was 

 removed, and the shutters closed durmg- winter; 

 but when opened again on the return of spring-, the 

 bees came back, though no honey remained: un- 

 doubtedly they remembered it; therefore, an in- 

 terval of several weeks did not obliterate the im- 

 pression they had received." 



CHAPTER III. 



THE HIVE BEE. 



Interior Arrans:ements of a Bee-hive— Structure of a Comb— Form of 

 the Cells— Worker-Bees— Collection of Honey— Elaboration of Wcls 

 —Bee-bread— Cleanliness of Bees. 



The reader must now be introduced to the interior 

 of the hive, and made acquainted with the archi- 

 tecture of these insects. In order to observe the 

 habits of this insect-world, the best plan is either to 

 have several glass hives, or overturn some com- 

 mon ones, that a comparative view may be taken 

 of the works carrying on in the interior. 



"It is absolutely necessary," says Reaumur, 

 "that more than one hive should be thus exposed; 

 for then we shall see the disposition of the combs 

 to be various in the different ones. They are not 

 restricted to a uniform mode of constructing their 

 cells, but accommodate the structure to circum- 

 stances." 



The combs do not touch each other, but are sepa- 

 rated by intervals sufficiently wide to permit the 

 bees to work at the surface of each contiguous 

 comb, and approach any cell without quite touching 

 each other— besides these highways, the little city 



