56 HOW TO KEEP BEES 



drone-cells are a little more than one-fourth an inch 

 in diameter and a little more than a half-inch in 

 depth. It is interesting to see the comb which has 

 in it both worker- and drone-cells, and note how the 

 transition is made; the two sizes are harmonised by 

 a row or two of cells that are irregular. Honey is 

 stored in both drone- and worker-cells, usually in 

 the latter; although our bees seem to have a fondness 

 for making drone-cells for storage. When the bees 

 begin to cap a cell, they commence at the outside 

 and work toward the centre. There is not a prettier 

 piece of engineering anywhere than the cap of a 

 honey-cell, with six little girders extending from the 

 angles of the cell and holding the flat cap at the 

 centre. Honey is capped with wax, but brood is 

 capped with a mixture of wax and pollen, which 

 admits air. Though the cell-walls may be thinner 

 than .0018 of an inch, comb is wonderfully strong, 

 and may weigh one-twentieth or less than the weight 

 of the honey stored within it. 



An interesting fact about the manufacture of comb 

 is that no one bee constructs a cell and no one bosses 

 the job. A bee will come along with a little wax 

 and put it in place at the side of a cell, and then 

 will run off and do something else; another bee 

 passing sees this bit of unfinished work, gives it 

 a few winches and polishes it a little, and then 

 does something else. Several bees may thus lend 

 a mandible before the cell is perfected. Any bit 

 of comb-building seems to be the result of a con- 

 sensus of public opinion and not of individual skill 



