The Life of the Bee 



[50 



To follow the various phases of the 

 secretion and employment of wax by a 

 swarm that is beginning to build, is a 

 matter of very great difficulty. All comes 

 to pass in the blackest depths of the 

 crowd, whose agglomeration, growing 

 denser and denser, produces the tem- 

 perature needful for this exudation, which 

 is the privilege of the youngest bees. 

 Huber, who was the first to study these 

 phenomena, bringing incredible patience 

 to bear and exposing himself at times to 

 very serious danger, devotes to them 

 more than two hundred and fifty pages ; 

 which, though of considerable interest, 

 are necessarily somewhat confused. But 

 I am not treating this subject technically ; 

 and while referring when necessary to 

 Ruber's admirable studies, I shall con- 

 fine myself generally to relating what is 

 181 



