INSECT COMMUNITIES 285 



broods of workers will be reared. Superfluous openings 

 in the walls of the hive are stopped up with propolis, a 

 resinous substance collected principally from the buds of 

 plants ; but the comb is always formed of wax. This is 

 really a manufactured article. The workers first gorge 

 themselves with nectar or honey, and then hang in a 

 dense, heated festoon until wax issues in the form of scales 

 between the ventral plates of the abdomen. These scales 

 are subsequently amalgamated and rendered plastic by 

 mastication with the bees' saliva. 



The cells of the hive-bee may be described as hexa- 

 gonal vessels, set almost horizontally in two series back 

 to back in such a way that the base of one cell is formed 

 by the union of the bases of three opposite cells. Mathe- 

 maticians concede that they afford the utmost capacity 

 obtainable from the material expended. Moreover, the 

 six-sided vessels, with their slight upward tilt, are very 

 retentive of liquid. Nevertheless : " It has been shown," 

 writes Mr. T. W. Cowan, "that the complexity and 

 apparent accuracy of the structure is not in the least 

 owing to the development of a mathematical instinct in 

 bees, or to artistic dexterity, but simply to physical laws 

 dependent upon their method of work, or as Miillenhoff 

 puts it, to ' statical pressure according to the laws of 

 equilibrium.' Cells destined for the rearing of workers, 

 or for the purpose of storage, are one-fifth of an inch in 

 diameter. These make up the bulk of the comb. But 

 there is also a limited number of larger cells, one-quarter 

 of an inch in diameter, which are used as nurseries for 

 the drones. Queen or royal cells are relatively large, 

 thimble-shaped structures which hang with their openings 

 downward from the edges of the comb. 



In the height of the breeding season, the queen, sur- 

 rounded by her attendants, passes rapidly from one cell 



