276 HABITATIONS OF INSECTS, 



next seizes one of the laminse of wax with a pincer formed by the posterior 

 metatarsus and tibia ^, and ilravving it from beneath the abdominal segment, 

 one of the anterior legs takes it with its claws and carries it to the mouth. 

 This leg holds the lamina with its claws vertically, the tongue rolled up 

 serving for a support, and, by elevating or depressing it at will, causes the 

 whole of its circumference to be exposed to the action of the mandibles, 

 so that the margin is soon gnawed into pieces, which drop as they are de- 

 tached into the double cavity, bordered with iiairs, of the mandibles. 

 These fragments, pressed by others newly separated, fall on one side of the 

 mouth, and issue from it in the form of a very narrow riband. Tiiey are 

 then presented to the tongue, which impregnates them with a frothy liquor 

 like a bouiUie. During this operation the tongue assumes all sorts of 

 forms ; sometimes it is flattened like a spatula ; then like a trowel, which 

 applies itself to the riband of wax ; at other times it resembles a pencil 

 terminating in a point. After having moistened the whole of the riband, 

 the tongue pushes it so as to make it re-enter the mandibles, but in an op- 

 posite direction, where it is worked up anew. The liquor mixed with the 

 wax communicates to it a whiteness and opacity which it had not before ; 

 and the object of this mixture of bouillie, which did not escape the obser- 

 vation of Reaumur'^, is doubtless to give it that ductility and tenacity 

 which it possesses in its perfect state. 



The foundress-bee, a name which this first beginner of a comb deserves, 

 next applies these prepared parcels of wax against the vault of the hive, 

 disposing them with the point of her mandibles in the direction which she 

 wishes them to take : and she continues these manoeuvres until she has 

 employed the whole lamina that she had separated from her body, when 

 she takes a second, proceeding in the same manner. She gives herself no 

 care to compress the molecules of wax which she has heaped together ; 

 she is satisfied if they adhere to each other. At length she leaves her 

 work, and is lost in the crowd of her companions. Another succeeds, 

 and resumes tlie employment; then a third ; all follow the same plan of 

 placing their little masses; and if any by chance gives them a contrary 

 direction, another coming removes tliem to their proper place. The result 

 of all these operations is a mass or little wall of wax with uneven surfaces, 

 five or six lines long, two lines high, and half a line thick, which descends 

 perpendicularly below the vault of the hive. In this first work is no angle 

 nor any trace of the figure of the cells. It is a simple [)artition in a right 

 line without any inflection. 



The wax-makers iiaving thus laid the foundation of a comb, are suc- 

 ceeded by the nurse-bees, which are alone competent to model and perfect 

 the work. The former are the labourers, who convey the stone and mor- 

 tar ; the latter the masons, who work them up into the form which the 

 intended structure requires. One of the nurse-bees now places itself 

 horizontall}' on the vault of the hive, its head corresponding to the centre 

 of the mass or wall which the wax-makers have left, and which is to form 

 the partition of the comb into tw'O opposite assemblages of cells ; and 

 with its mandibles, rapidly moving its head, it moidds in that side of the 

 wall a cavity which is to form the base of one of the cells, to the diameter 

 of which it is equal. When it has worked some minutes it departs, and 



1 Vide Mon. Jp. Ang. t. 12. * * e. 1. neut. fig. IS. 

 * Reauiii. V. 424. 



