INSTINCT OF INSECTS. 481 



from each other, namely about one third of an inch, 

 which is just wide enough to allow them to pass easily 

 and have access to the young; brood. On the approach 

 of winter, when their honey-cells are not sufficient in 

 number to contain all the stock, they elongate them 

 considerably, and thus increase their capacity. By 

 this extension the intervals between the combs are 

 unavoidably contracted ; but in winter well-stored ma- 

 gazines are essential, while from their state of compa- 

 rative inactivity spacious communications are less ne- 

 cessary. On the return of spring, however, when the 

 cells are wanted for the reception of eggs, the bees 

 contract the elongated cells to their former dimensions, 

 and thus re-establish the just distances between the 

 combs which the care of their brood requires^. But 

 this is not all. Not only do they elongate the cells of 

 the old combs when there is an extraordinary harvest 

 of honey, but they actually give to the new cells which 

 they construct on this emergency a much greater dia- 

 7neler as well as a greater depth''. 



The queen-bee in ordinary circumstances places 

 each egg in the centre of the pyramidal bottom of the 

 cell, where it remains fij^ed by its natural gluten : but 

 in an experiment of Huber, one whose fecundation had 

 been retarded, had the first segments of her abdomen 

 so swelled that she was unable to reach the bottom of 

 the cells. She therefore attached her eggs (which 

 were those of males) to their lower side, two lines 

 from the mouth. As the larvae always pass that state 

 in the place where they are deposited, those hatched 

 from the eggs in question remained in the situation 



*JIuber,i. 348. *" Ibitl. ii ^^T. 



TOL> II. 2 X 



