THE INDUSTRIES OF THE HIVE 53 



which had six of these wax scales ornamenting her 

 abdomen, and which proved her a bee of resource, 

 since she was able to work and make wax at the same 

 time. However, there is a choice about the wax- 

 making. It is no willy-nilly production caused by 

 gorging with honey, for it is never made except when 

 the colony needs more comb. 



THE COMB-MAKING (Plate IX.) 



It is often stated that after the wax is secreted 

 and pushed through the wax pockets the scales are 

 removed by the wax shears on the hind legs of the 

 producers, and are passed forward to the front claws, 

 and then thrust into the mouth; here the wax is 

 warmed and perhaps chewed with saliva and -made 

 malleable, thus somewhat changing the chemical 

 composition and fitting it to be moulded into comb. 

 But there is a hiatus in our knowledge just at this 

 point as to whether the bees which secrete the 

 wax take it off and make comb, or whether other 

 workers harvest wax-scales from the suspended 

 individuals and mould them into shape; or whether 

 perhaps the scales fall from the suspended "curtain" 

 to the bottom of the hive and there are gathered by 

 the ever-busy young workers. Professor Kellogg, 

 who studied bees in an observation hive, is inclined 

 to think that all of these methods are used, while 

 Mr. A. I. Root describes the process graphically thus: 



If a bee is obliged to carry one of these wax scales but 

 a short distance she takes it in her mandibles, and looks as 

 businesslike with it thus as a carpenter with a board on 



