74 CLASSIFICATION, PHYSIOLGY, ETC. 



store it in the combs, and also collect propolis with 

 which to coat the interior surface of their habitation. 

 It is probable that the field laborers are the princi- 

 pal comb builders. 



WAX PRODUCED BY THE WORKERS. 



The wax of which the comb is composed, is an 

 animal secretion, emitted from the folds of the abdo- 

 men in a manner similar to the emission of silk from 

 the silk worm. 



The wax producers remain in the hive inactive, 

 while elaborating the wax. This consumes several 

 days from the time they commence feeding for the 

 purpose. Their food during this time is mostly 

 honey ; pollen as food is not essential to the elabora- 

 tion of wax. 



The wax appears in two rows of scales of four 

 each, in sacklets on the under side of the abdomen, 

 as represented in plate i^fig. 8. These are taken 

 away by the builders and converted into combs. 



When about to lay the foundations of a new comb, 

 the bees cluster in ranks formed into festoons, so 

 that the builders can pass freely at their work ; this 

 arrangement seems designed to create and maintain 

 a sufficiently warm and uniform temperature to enable 

 them to mold the wax into a perfect structure, whieh, 

 when first built, is white, semi-transparent and fragile ; 

 it afterwards changes to a darker color and becomes 

 stronger. These effects are produced by the thick- 



