THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



229 



Comb Building. 



Iluber thus describes the process of comb 

 building. He speaks of two kinds of work- 

 ers— "wax-makers" and "nurses." This is 

 an error. There is but one kind of bees. 

 Young bees are tlie "nurses" and "comb 

 builders," while the older bees gather the 

 honey. lie says: 



The wax makers, having taken a due por- 

 tion of honey or sugar, from either of which 

 wax can be elaborated, suspend themselves 

 to each other, the claws of the fore-legs of 

 the lowermost being attached „to those of 

 the hind pair of the uppermost, and form 

 themselves into a cluster, the exterior layer 

 of which looks like a kind of curtain. This 

 cluster consists of a series of festoons or 



§arlands, which cross each other in all 

 irections, and in which most of the bees 

 turn their back upon the observer; the cur- 

 tain has no other motion than what it re- 

 ceives from the interior layers, the fluctua- 

 tions of which are communicated to it. All 

 this time the nurse bees preserve their 

 wonted activity and pursue their usual 

 employments. The wax makers remain 

 innnovable for about 24 hours, during which 

 period the formation of wax takes place; 

 and thin laminne of this material may be 

 generally perceived under their abdomen. 

 One of these bees is now seen to detatch it- 

 self from one of the central garlands of the 

 cluster, to make a way amongst its com- 

 panions to the middle of the vault or top of 

 the hive, and by turning itself round to 

 form a kind of void, in which it can move 

 itself freely. It then suspends itself to the 

 centre of tne space which it has cleared, the 

 diameter of which is about an inch; it next 

 seizes one of the lamina of wax with a 

 pincer formed by the posterior metatai'sus 

 and tibia, and drawing it from beneath the 

 abdominal segment, one of the anterior legs 

 takes it with its claws and carries it to the 

 mouth. This leg holds the lamina with its 

 claws vertically, the tongue rolled up serv- 

 ing for a support, and by elevating or de- 

 pressing it at will, causes the whole of its 

 circumference to be exposed to the action 

 of the mandibles, so that the margin is soon 



gnawed into pieces, which drop as they are 

 etatched into the double cavity, bordered 

 with hairs, of the mandibles. These frag- 

 ments, pressed by others newly separated, 

 fall on one side of the mouth and issue from 

 it in the form of a very narrow riband. 



They are then presented to the tongue, 

 which impregnates them with a frothy 

 liquor like a bouilli. During this operation 

 the tongue assumes all sorts of forms: some- 

 times it is flattened like a spatula, then like 

 a trowel, which applies itselt to the riband 

 of wax; at other tunes it resembles a pencil 

 terminating in a i)oint. After having 

 moistened the whole of the riband, the 

 tongue pushes it so as to make it re-enter 

 the mandibles, but in an opposite direction, 

 where it is worked up anew. The liquor 

 mixed with the wax connnunicates to it a 

 whiteness and opacity which it had not be- 

 fore; and the object of this mixture of 

 bouilli, which did not escape the observa- 

 tion of Iteaumur, is, doubtless, to give it 

 that ductility and tenacity which it posses- 

 ses in its perfect state. 



The foundress bee, the name which this 

 first beginner of a comb deserves, next ap- 



plies these prei)ared parcels of wax against 

 the vault of the hive, ilisi)osing them with 

 the point of her mandibles in tlie direction 

 which she wishes them to take; aiul she 

 continues these manoHivres until she has 

 employed the whole lamiiui that slfe had 

 sc|);uated from iier body when she takes a 

 second proceeding in the same manner. 

 She gives herself no can; to compress the 

 molecules of wax which she has heaped to- 

 gether; she is satisfied if they adhere to 

 each other. At length she leaves her work 

 and is lost in the crowd of her companions. 

 Another succeeds and resumes the employ- 

 ment; then a third; all follow the same 

 plan of placing their little masses; and if 

 any, by chance, gives them a contrary direc- 

 tion, another coming removes them to their 

 proper place. The result of all these opera- 

 tions is a mass or little wall of wax, with 

 uneven surfaces, five or six lines long, two 

 lines high, and half a line thick, which des- 

 cends perpendicularly below the vault of 

 the hive. In this first work is no angle nor 

 any trace of the figure of the cells. It is a 

 simple partition in a right line without any 

 inflection. 



The wax makers having thus laid a foun- 

 dation of a comb, are succeeded by the 

 nurse bees, which are alone competent to 

 model and perfect the work. 



The former are the laborers, who convey 

 the stone and mortar; the latter, the ma- 

 sons, who work them up into the form 

 which the intended structure requires. One 

 of the nurse bees now places itself horizont- 

 ally on the vault of the hive, its head cor- 

 responding to the centre of the mass or wall 

 which the wax nuikers have left, and which 

 is to form the partition of tiie comb into 

 two opposite assemblages of cells; and, 

 with its mandibles rapidly moving its head, 

 it moulds in that side of the wall, a cavity 

 which is to form the base of one of the cells 

 to the diameter of which it is equal. When 

 it has worked some minutes it ileparts, and 

 another takes it place, deepening tlie cavity, 

 heightening its lateral margins by heaping 

 up the wax to right and lef t oy means of its 

 teeth and forefeet, and giving them a more 

 upright form; nioi'e than twenty bees suc- 

 cessively employ themselves in this work. 

 When arrived at a certain point, other bees 

 begin on the yet untouched and opposite 

 siue of the mass, and, commencing tlie bot- 

 tom of two cells, are in turn relieved by 

 others. While still engaged in this labor, 

 the wax makers return, and add to the 

 mass, augmenting its extent in every way, 

 the nurse bees again continuing their opera- 

 tions. After having worked the bottom of 

 the cells of the first row into their proper 

 forms, they polish thein, and give them . 

 their finish, wliile others begin the outline 

 of a new series. 



The cells themselves, or prisms, which 

 result from the reunion and meeting of the 

 sides, are next constructed. These are en- 

 grafted on the borders of the cavities hol- 

 lowed in the mass; the bees begin them by 

 making the contour of the bottoms, which 

 at first is unequal, of equal height; thus all 

 the margins of the cells olfer an uniformly 

 level surface from their first origin, and un- 

 til they have accjuired their proper length. 

 The sides are heightened in an order analo- 

 gous to that which the insects follow in 

 nnishing the bottoms of the cells; and the 

 length of these tubes is so perfectly propor- 

 tioned that there is no observable inequality 



