The Life of the Bee 



from the mass, her physical appearance 

 differing appreciably from that of the 

 foundresses who preceded her. And her 

 manner displays such settled conviction, 

 her movements are followed so eagerly by 

 all the crowd, that we almost might fancy 

 that some illustrious engineer had been 

 summoned to trace in the void the site of 

 the first cell of all, from which every other 

 must mathematically depend. This bee 

 belongs to the sculptor or carver class 

 of workers ; she produces no wax her- 

 self and is content to deal with the 

 materials others provide. She locates the 

 first cell, scoops into the block for an in- 

 stant, lays the wax she has removed from 

 the cavity on the borders around it ; and 

 then, like the foundresses, abruptly de- 

 parts and abandons her model. Her 

 place is taken at once by an impatient 

 worker, who continues the task that a 

 third will finish, while others close by are 

 i8s 



