HABITATIONS OF INSECTS. 503 



more elevated parts of the lower, and connected to- 

 gether by small pillars of wax. Each of these combs 

 consists of several groups of pale-yeilow oval bodies 

 of three dilTerent sizes, those in the middle being the 

 largest, closely joined to each other, and each group 

 connected witli those next it by slight joinings of wax. 

 These oval bodies are not, as you might suppose, the 

 work of the old bees, but the silken cocoons spun by 

 the young larv*. Some are closed at the upper ex- 

 tremity ; others, which chiefly occupy the lower combs, 

 have this part open. The former are those which yet in- 

 clude their immature tenants; the latter are the empty 

 cases from which the young bees have escaped. On 

 the surface of the upper comb are seen several masses 

 of wax of a flattened spheroidal shape, and of very 

 various dimensions ; some above an inch and others 

 not a quarter of an inch in diameter ; which on being 

 opened are found to include a number of larvae sur- 

 rounded with a supply of pollen moistened with honey. 

 These, which are the true cells, are chiefly the work 

 of the female, which after depositing her eggs in them 

 furnishes them with a store of pollen and honey; and, 

 when this is consumed, supplies the larvae Vvith a daily 

 provision, as has been described in a former letter, until 

 they are sufficiently grown to spin the cocoons before 

 ?poken of Lastly, in all the corners of the combs, and 

 especially in the middle, we observe a considerable 

 number of small goblet-like vessels, filled with honey 

 and pollen, which are not, as in the case of the hive- 

 bee, the fabrication of the workers, but are chiefly the 

 empty cocoons left by the larvae. It falls to the workers, 

 however, to cut off the fragments of silk from the ori- 



