52 HOW TO KEEP BEES 



The wax glands, when studied by the histologists, 

 are found to consist each of a specialised area of the 

 layer of cells that form the active living part of the 

 body-wall of the insect. When active these cells are 

 much thicker than the corresponding cells in other 

 parts of the body-wall; but if examined during the 

 winter, they do not differ greatly in appearance 

 from other cells of the hypodermis. (Plate XXV, 

 Fig. 5.) 



When wax is needed, a certain number of self- 

 elected citizens gorge with honey and hang up in 

 chains or curtains, each bee clinging by her front 

 feet to the hind feet of the one above her, like Japan- 

 ese acrobats; and there they remain, sometimes for 

 two days, until the wax scales appear pushed out 

 from every pocket. It is not hard to understand 

 that, since much honey is needed for the manufacture 

 of wax, a bee after filling with the raw material 

 would produce much more wax by keeping quiet 

 than by using any of the gorged honey for energy in 

 moving about and working. But the necessity of 

 *' holding hands" while this work goes on must ever 

 remain to us another occult evidence of the close rela- 

 tions of the citizens in the bee commune. (Plate X.) 



While most of the wax is produced from these 

 quiescent suspended individuals, yet any bee-keeper 

 who is observant has discovered that at the height 

 of the honey season many of the workers coming in 

 laden from the fields will have wax scales protruding 

 from some or all of the pockets. We once captured 

 one of our bees, working on a white clover blossom, 



