328 THE INSECT WORLD. 



that is, to those places where other bees are occupied, either in con- 

 structing new cells, or in polisljjng or bordering the cells already 

 built ; it offers them honey, as if to prevent them from being under 

 the necessity of leaving their work to go and get it themselves." 



The honey which fills the store cells is intended for daily con- 

 sumption, and also intended as a reserve for the period when the 

 flowers furnish no more. The empty cells are left open, the workers 

 making use of them when they want them, particularly during rainy 

 days, which keep them at home. But the cells which contain the 

 honey put by in reserve are closed. " They are," says Re'aumur, 

 " like so many pots of jam or jelly, each one of which has its cover- 

 ing, and a very solid covering it is too." This covering, composed 

 of wax, hermetically seals the pots containing this reserve of honey. 

 The object of this is to keep the honey in a certain state of liquidity, 

 by preventing the evaporation of the water it contains. It is a re- 

 markable fact that it does not run out of the cells which are open, 

 although their position is almost always horizontal. This is because 

 there are always in the sides of these narrow tubes points enough to 

 keep it in, and that besides this the last layer of honey is always of 

 greater consistency than the liquid in the interior, and upon which it 

 forms a sort of crust. 



When the harvest has been abundant, many combs of closed cells 

 may be found in each hive, perfect storehouses of abundance, fur- 

 nished for the wants of the bad season. When the construction of 

 the cells goes on well often on the day after the bees have installed 

 themselves in their hive the queen goes out to meet the males. At 

 the hour when these are accustomed to disport themselves in the sun, 

 that is to say. from noon till five o'clock, she leaves the hive, whirls 

 about for a few seconds, and disappears into the air. At the end of 

 half an hour she returns, pregnant. 



When the female returns to the hive, she is the object of every 

 attention, the workers pressing round her, and forming quite a train. 

 Many approach her, and lick the surface of her body ; others brush 

 her, caress her, and present her their trunks full of honey. Forty- 

 eight hours after her return to the hive the mother bee generally 

 begins laying.* Running over the honeycomb, she deposits an egg 

 in each empty cell, and fixes it to the bottom by means of a glutinous 

 secretion, in such a way that the egg is suspended in the interior of 

 the cell. They have the appearance of little oblong bodies, of a 

 bluish white. If the queen, in a hurry to lay, lets more than one egg 



* Not invariably, the period is often longer. ED. 



