INTRODUCTION 15 



change the position to prevent the honey 

 from running out ? 



To this day the queen-bee cells hang 

 mouth down, and they are the only cells 

 in the hive that never contain honey I 



Did the bee and the wasp get the 

 idea of cell-making from some com- 

 mon comb-building ancestor who had 

 not yet differentiated into a true bee ^^^ 

 or a true wasp ; an ancestor wavering &fc^ti 

 between paper and wax, some of whose 

 descendants chose one and some the other; 

 an ancestor wavering between pollen and 

 insect food? 



Or did the comb-building habit arise after 

 bees were bees and wasps wasps, — a like 

 necessity resulting in a like construction ? 



One would like to turn back the pages 

 of time for a glance at the primitive his- 

 tory of these remarkable creatures, but the 

 book is closed and locked, only the page 

 of to-day being available to those who 

 can read it. 



