FAMILI^, (Jpis. * *. e. 2.) ^OJ 



an irregular comb, composed of an assemblage of 

 oval bodies disposed one against another : under 

 this there is sometimes another, which itself is 

 placed upon a third, none of these are united to- 

 gether : sometimes, however, there is only one. 

 These combs vary in size, and are not to be com- 

 pared, either for the regularity of their form, or of 

 the parts that compose them, with those of the hive 

 bee. They consist of a number of oblong or oval 

 cells, or coccoons, spun by the larvae when they 

 are about to undergo their first change, for these 

 insects make no waxen cells for their young : they 

 are made of a kind of silk, and fastened together. 

 These cells are of three dimensions, answering to 

 the three sexes, which circumstance produces the 

 ._inequalities observable in the surface of the combs. 

 The void spaces between the cells are filled with 

 masses of brown paste, made of gross wax, or pol- 

 len much wrought, and honey. Besides the mass- 

 es, they attach to every comb, particularly the up- 

 permost, three or four cells in the shape of gob- 

 lets, open at the top, and full of liquid and very 

 sweet honey, and made of the same kind of coarse 

 wax that the roof is ceiled with. The first step 

 towards furnishing a nest is to make a mass of the 

 brown paste, and one of these honey-pots. The 

 masses of paste, which are sometimes as big as small 

 nuts, are intended for the food of the larvae, and in 

 them the eggs are deposited. These vary in num- 

 ber, from three to thirty being to be found in one 



mass, 



