43 



alone, but it has been proved that bees fed solely on pollen do not secrete wax, but do 

 when saccharine matter is supplied. A detachment of workers is sent to the fields to 

 collect supplies and soon return loaded. One now attaches itself to the roof, allowing 

 its body to hang down ; another fastens its front legs to the hinder ones of the first ; and 

 this operation is repeated until a large cluster is formed, suspended from the top of the 

 hive. The bees remain in this position about twenty-four hours, during which time the 

 food they have collected is altered by some process into wax, and appears under the joints 

 of the abdomen. One now separates itself from the mass, and forcing its way to the roof, 

 clears a space of about an inch in diameter, in which it can move freely : it then suspends 

 itself, and, seizing one of the lamina; of wax with a pincer formed by two joints of the 

 hind leg, withdraws it from beneath the abdominal ring, and carries it to its mouth. 

 Here it masticates it, mixing it with the frothy saliva ; during the operation the tongue 

 assumes many forms : now it is flattened like a spatula ; then like a trowel ; at other 

 times it resembles a pencil terminating in a point. The saliva mixed with the wax gives 

 it a whiteness and opacity which it had not before, and another object of the admixture 

 is doubtless to give it that ductility and tenacity which it possesses in its perfect state 

 The bee next applies the ribands of wax which result to the vault of the hive, disposing 

 them with its mandibles in the direction which it wishes them to take : it continues these 

 mana'uvres until it has employed all the lamina- of wax it has elaborated. At length it 

 leaves its work, and is lo.st in the crowd of its companions. Anotlier succeeds and 

 resumes the employment ; then a third ; all follow the same plan of placing their little 

 masses, and if any by chance gives thera a contrary direction, another coming re- 

 moves them to their proper place. The wax-makers having thus laid the foundation of a 

 comb, are succeeded by the nurse bees, which are alone competent to model and perfect 

 the work. The former are the labourers who convey the stone and mortar ; the latter the 

 masons who work them up into the form which the intended structure requires. One of 

 the nurse bees with its mandibles moulds in the wall a cavity which is to form the base of 

 one of the cells. When it has worked some minutes it departs, and another takes its 

 place, deepening the cavity, heightening its lateral margins by heaping up the wax to the 

 right and left, by means of its teeth and fore feet. More than twenty bees successively 

 employ themselves in this work. At a certain time other bees begin on the yet untouched 

 and opposite side of the mass, and commencing the bottom of Ui^o cells, are in turn 

 relieved by others. The wax-makers bring fresh supplies from time to time for the use 

 of the nurse bees. After having worked the bottom of the cells of the first row into their 

 proper forms, they poli.sh them, while others begin the outline of a new series. The cells 

 or prisons are next constructed, and engrafted on the borders of the cavities, and the 

 length of the tubes is so perfectly proportioned, that there is no observable inequality 

 among them. It is to be remarked that although the general form of the cells is hex- 

 agonal, the first begun are pentagonal. " When one has well examined," says Reamur, 

 "the true shape of each cell, when one has studied their arrangement, geometry seems to 

 have guided the design for the whole work. One finds that all the advantages which 

 could have been desired are here combineil. The bees seem to have had to solve a prob- 

 lem containing conditions which would have made the solution appear difficult to many 

 geometricians. The problem may he thus enunciated : given a quantity of matter, say of 

 wax, it is required to form cells which shall be equal and similar to each other, of a deter- 

 mined capacity, but as large as possible in proportion to the quantity of matter employed, 

 and the cells to be so placed that they may occupy the least possible space in the hive. 

 To satisfy this last condition, the cells shou'd touch each other in such a way that no an- 

 gular spaces remain between them." 



That the bees have fully solved the above problem is evident, and the judgment they 

 use renders it impossible for us to view them as mere organized machines, whose instinct 

 is their spring of action : we are forced to concede to them intelligence — (Figuieur). 



The two rows of cells placed back to back form the comb, and the combs are so ar- 

 ranged that the bees have just space to pass between them. The size of the cell varies, 

 but the majority of them are small, some are slightly larger, and a few are of consider- 

 able size, and those usually at the ends of the combs. The smallest are for the larvje of 

 the workers, the next will be filled by those of the male,-and the largest cells will contain 

 queens or fertile females. 



