64 BEES. 



which bees operate when constructing their 

 cells. They are so eager to afford mutual 

 assistance ; and for this purpose so many of 

 them crowd together, and are perpetually 

 succeeding each other, that their individual 

 operations can seldom be distinctly observed. 

 It has, hov/ever, been plainly discovered, that 

 their two jaws are the only instruments they 

 employ in modelling and polishing the wax. 

 With a little patience and attention, we per- 

 ceive cells just begun ; we likewise remark 

 the quickness with which a bee moves its 

 teeth against a small portion of the cell. 

 This portion the animal by repeated strokes 

 on each side, smooths, renders compact, and 

 reduces to a proper thinness. While some 

 of the hive are lengthening their hexagonal 

 tubes, others are laying the foundations of 

 new ones. In certain circumstances, when 

 extremely hurried, they do not complete 

 their new cells, but leave them imperfect till 

 they have begun a number sufficient for their 

 present exigencies. When a bee puts its 

 head a little way into a cell, we easily per- 

 ceive it scraping the walls with the points of 

 its teeth, in order to detach such useless and 



