The Life of the Bee 



attacking the rest of the surface and the 

 opposite side of the wall ; each one obey- 

 ing the general law of interrupted and 

 successive labour, as though it were an 

 inherent principle of the hive that the 

 pride of toil should be distributed, and 

 every achievement be anonymous and 

 common to all, that it might thereby 

 become more fraternal. 



[53] 



The outline of the nascent comb may 

 soon be divined. In form it will still be 

 lenticular, for the little prismatic tubes 

 that compose it are unequal in length, and 

 diminish in proportion as they recede from 

 the centre to the extremities. In thick- 

 ness and appearance at present it more or 

 less resembles a human tongue whose 

 sides might be formed of hexagonal cells, 

 contiguous, and placed back to back. 



The first cells having been built, the 

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