116 INSECT ARCHITECTURE, 



tervals, because the glass itself was too smooth to 

 admit of the bees supporting themselves on it. A 

 swarm, consisting of some thousand workers, several 

 hundred males, and a fertile queen, was introduced, 

 and they soon ascended to the top. Those first 

 gaining the slips, fixed themselves there by the fore- 

 feet; others scrambling up the sides, joined them, 

 by holding their legs with their own, and they thus 

 formed a kind of chain, fastened by the two ends to 

 the upper parts of the receiver, and served as ladders 

 or a bridge to the workers enlarging their number. 

 The latter were united in a cluster, hanging like an 

 inverted pyramid from the top to the bottom of the hive. 



'' The country then affording little honey, we pro- 

 vided the bees with syrup of sugar, in order to hasten 

 their labour. They crowded to the edge of a vessel 

 containing it; and, having satisfied themselves, re- 

 turned to the group. We were now struck with the 

 absolute repose of this hive, contrasted with the usual 

 agitation of bees. Meanwhile, the nurse-bees alone 

 went to forage in the country: they returned with 

 pollen, kept guard at the entrance of the hive, 

 cleansed it, and stopped up its edges with propolis. 

 The wax-workers remained motionless above fifteen 

 hours: the curtain of bees, consisting always of the 

 same individuals, assured us that none eplaced them,. 

 Some hours later, we remarked that almost all these 

 individuals had wax scales under the rings; and 

 next day this phenomenon was still more general. 

 The bees forming the external layer of the cluster, 

 having now somewhat altered their position, enabled 

 us to see their bellies distinctly. By the projection 

 of the wax scales, the rings seemed edged with 

 white. The curtain of bees became rent in several 

 places, and some commotion began to be observed 

 in the hive. 



'^ Convinced that the combs would originate in 



