HABITATIONS OF INSECTS. 489 



oF precisely similar dimensions. As the society con- 

 sists of three orders of insects differing in size, the cells 

 which are to contain the larvae of each proportionably 

 differ, those built for the males being considerably 

 larger than those which are intended for the workers. 

 The abode of the larvas of the queen bee differs still 

 more. It is not only much larger than any of the rest, 

 bat of a quite different form, being shaped like a pear 

 or Florence flask, and composed of a material much 

 coarser than common wax, of which above one hun- 

 dred times as much is used in its construction as of pure 

 wax in that of a common cell. The situation, too, of 

 these cells (for there are generally three or four, and 

 sometimes many more, even up to thirty or forty, in 

 each hive) is very different from that of the common 

 cells. Instead of being in a horizontal they are placed 

 in a vertical direction, with the mouth downwards, 

 and are usually fixed to the lower edge of the combs, 

 from which they irregularly project like stalactites 

 from the roof of a cavern. — The cells destined for the 

 reception of honey and pollen, differ from those whicli 

 the larvcB of the males and workers inhabit, only by 

 being deeper, and thus more capacious ; in fact, the 

 very same cells are successively applied to both pur- 

 poses. When the honey is collected in great abun- 

 dance, and there is not time to construct fresh cells, 

 the bees lengthen the honey cells by adding a rim to 

 them. 



You will be anxious to learn the process w hich these 

 ingenious artificers follow in constructing their habi- 

 tations : and on this head I am happy that the recent 

 publication of a new edition of the celebrated Huber's 



