of the Nests of Gregarious Hymenoptera. 187 



cell, one side of which is made to abut against the window, and 

 is in such a position as to expose the under surface of its body, 

 the whole of its proceedings are easily watched. It first reduces 

 into small pieces the little transparent scale of wax which it 

 brings in its mandibles, and mixing these with a quantity of saliva 

 makes a soft and opaque mass, and then immediately begins to 

 unite this new material with the wax of the cells, by kneading it 

 like dough with its mandibles, and, as this new wax becomes more 

 ductile, it draws it through them in the form of a thin riband, as 

 noticed by Huber and Dr. Bevan, until it is sufficiently softened 

 for use. It then spreads it out, and moulds it into form with its 

 flexible labium and maxillae ; and during the whole time it is thus 

 engaged the bee constantly employs its antennae in feeling, as it 

 were, the shape of the kneaded mass, and ascertaining the progress 

 of the work. At the moment of spreading it out the new wax is 

 often so much softened by its admixture with saliva as to form a 

 kind of thick paste, which appears to dry rapidly. This has been 

 noticed by Bevan, and any one may satisfy himself of the fact on 

 inspecting a cell that has one of its sides formed by the glass 

 window ; he will then also observe that in the angles formed by 

 the approximation of the bases of the cells of the two sides of 

 the comb, there is usually a little interspace, which is not filled 

 up, and in which the wax that forms the basis of the cells has a 

 roughened appearance, like unfinished plaster-work. This cir- 

 cumstance leads at first to the opinion that every cell is formed of 

 distinct walls, as formerly stated by Dr. Barclay ; but this opinion 

 has been disputed, on the fact that it is only in old combs that the 

 cells are distinctly separable, and in those it is believed to arise, 

 not from the actual existence of distinct walls to each cell, but 

 from the accumulation within them of the cocoons spun by the 

 larvae. But whether the walls of the cells be indeed double or 

 single I have always found the interior of the cells of a new made 

 comb, in which no larvse have been hatched, perfectly smooth, 

 like those which have contained larv^, and also lined with a deli- 

 cate pellicle. The combs I have examined were those of a maiden 

 swarm, every cell of which was lined with a distinct membrane, 

 not excepting even those cells which were unfinished, on the edges 

 of the combs, and in which, of course, no larvae could ever have 

 been developed. In order to assure myself of this fact, I cut off 

 one row of unfinished cells, and one row which was only just com- 

 menced, and placed them in hot water, in which they were allowed 

 to digest for at least a couple of hours, at a temperature very little 

 below 212 Fahr. The wax of the cells became completely dis- 



