482 INSTINCT OF INSECTS. 



propolis, wax, or a mixture of both, as circumstances 

 direct. 



Not to weary you with examples of the modifications 

 of instinct we are considering, I shall introduce but three 

 more : the first, of the mode in which bees extend the 

 dimensions of an old comb ; the second, of that which 

 they adopt in constructing the male cells and connecting 

 them with the smaller cells of workers ; and the last, of 

 the plan pursued by them when it becomes necessary to 

 bend their combs. 



You must have observed that a comb newly made be- 

 comes gradually thinner at its edges, the cells there, 

 on each side, progressively decreasing in length : but in 

 time these marginal cells, as they are wanted for the 

 purposes of the hive, are elongated to the depth of the 

 rest. Now suppose bees, from an augmentation of the 

 size of their hive, to have occasion to extend their combs 

 either in length or breadth, the process which they adopt 

 is this : They gnaw away the tops of the marginal cells 

 until the combs have resumed their original lenticular 

 form, and then construct upon their edges the pyramidal 

 lozenge-shaped bottoms of cells, upon which the hexago- 

 nal sides are subsequently raised, as in their operation 

 of cell-building. This course of proceeding is invariable : 

 they never extend a comb in any direction whatever, 

 without having first made its edges thinner, diminishing 

 its thickness in a portion sufficiently large to leave no 

 angular projection. Huber observes, and with reason, 

 in relating this surprising law which obliges bees par- 

 tially to demolish the cells situated upon the edges of the 

 combs, that it deserves a more close examination than 

 he found himself competent to give it : for, if we may to 



