HIVE-BEES. 



101 



quitting its position, disappeared amidst its companions. 

 Another, with wax under the rings, succeeded it, which, 

 suspending itself to the same spot, withdrew a scale by 

 the pincers of the hind legs, and passing it through its 

 mandibles, prosecuted the work ; and taking care to make 

 its deposit in a line with the former, it united their ex- 

 tremities. A third worker detaching itself from the in- 

 terior of the cluster, now came and reduced some of the 

 scales to paste, and put them near the materials accumu- 

 lated by its companions, but not in a straight line. Ano- 



Curtain of Wax-workers (see p. 99). 



ther bee, apparently sensible of the defect, removed the 

 misplaced wax before our eyes, and carrying it to the former 

 heap, deposited it there, exactly in the order and direction 

 pointed out. 



" From all these operations was produced a block of a 

 rugged surface, hanging down from the arch, without any 



