THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



43 



these pockets the wax is secreted by some un- 

 known process from the food taken into the 

 stomach^ Avhich in the wax-making hees is 

 mnch larger thau in the nurse-bees, and after- 

 wards transpires through the membrane of the 

 Avax-pockct in thin lamina?. The nurse-bees, 

 however, do secrete Avax, but in very small 

 quantities. When wax is not wanted in the 

 hive, the wax-makers disgorge their honey into 

 the cells. 



The process of building a comb in a bee-hive, 

 as observed by Huber, is as follows: 



The wax-makers, having taken a due portion 

 of honey or sugar, from either of which wax 

 can be elaborated, suspend themselves to each 

 other, the claws of the forelegs of the lower- 

 most 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 se- 

 ries of festoons or garlands, which cross each 

 other in all directions, and in which most of the 

 bees turn their backs upon the observer; the 

 curtain has no other motion than what it re- 

 ceives from the interior layers, the fluctuations 

 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 immovable ior about twenty- 

 four hours, during which period the formation 

 of wax takes place, and thin laminae of this ma- 

 terial may be generally perceived under their 

 abdomen. One of these bees is now seen to de- 

 tach itself from one of the central garlands of 

 the cluster, to make a way amongst its compan- 

 ions 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 center of the space, 

 which it has cleared, the diameter of which is 

 about an inch. It next seizes one of the lami- 

 nae of wax with a pinccr formed by the poste- 

 rior metatarsus and tibia, and drawing it from 

 beneath the abdominal segment, one of the an- 

 terior 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 depress- 

 ing it at Avill, causes the whole of its circumfer- 

 ence to be exposed to the action of the mandi- 

 bles, so that the margin is soon gnawed into 

 pieces, which drop as they are detached into 

 the double cavity, bordered with hairs, of the 

 mandibles. These fragments, pressed by others 

 newly separated, fall on one side of the mouth, 

 and issue from it in the form of a very narrow 

 ribband. They are then presented to the tongue, 

 which impregnates them with a frothy liquor 

 like a houillie. During this operation the tongue 

 assumes all sorts of forms; sometimes it is flat- 

 tened like a spatula; then like a trowel, which 

 applies itself to the ribband of wax: at other 

 times it resembles a pencil terminating in a 

 point. After having moistened the whole of 

 the ribband, the tongue pushes it so as to make 

 it re-enter the mandibles, but in an opposite di- 

 rection, where it is Avorked up anew. The li- 

 quor mixed with the wax communicates to it a 

 whiteness and oi)acitj" which it had not before; 



and the object of this mixture of houillie, which 

 did not escape the observation of Reaumur, is 

 doubtless to give it that ductility and tenacity 

 which it possesses in its perfect state. 



The foundress-bee, a name which this first 

 beginner of a comb deserves, next applies these 

 prepared parcels of wax against the vault of 

 the hive, disposing them with the point of 

 her mandibles in the direction which she wishes 

 them to take; and she continues these manoeu- 

 vres until she has employed the whole lamina 

 that she had separated from her body, when 

 she takes a second, proceeding in the same man- 

 ner. She gives herself no care to compress the 

 molecules of wax which she has heaped togeth- 

 er; 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 employment; then a third; all 

 follow the same plan of placing their little mass- 

 es; and if any by chance gives them a contrary 

 direction, another coming removes them to their 

 proper place. The result of all these operations 

 is a mass or little wall of Avax with uneven sur- 

 faces, five or six lines long, two lines high, and 

 half a line thick, which descends perpendicu- 

 larly 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 wa.K-makers having thus laid the founda- 

 tion of a comb, arc succeeded by the nurse-bees, 

 which arc alone competent to model and per- 

 fect the work. The former are the laborers, 

 who convey the stone and mortar; the latter the 

 masons, who work them up into the form which 

 the intended structure requires. One of the 

 nurse-bees now places itself horizontally on the 

 vault of the hive, its head corresponding to the 

 centre of the mass or wall which the wax-mak- 

 ers have left; and which is to form the partitiorj 

 of the comb into two opposite assemblages oi 

 cells; and with its mandibles, rapidly movinf^ 

 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 departs, 

 and another takes its place, deepening the cav- 

 itj'-, heightening its lateral margins by heaping 

 up the wax to right and left by means of its 

 teeth and fore-feet, and giving them a more up- 

 right form. More than twenty bees succes- 

 sively employ themselves in this Avork. When 

 arrived at a certain point, other bees begin on 

 the yet untouched and opposite side of the 

 mass, and commencing the bottom of tmo cells, 

 are in turn relieved by others. While still en- 

 gaged in this labor, the wax-makers return and 

 add to the mass, augmenting its extent every 

 way, the nurse-bees again continuing their ope- 

 rations. After having worked the bottoms of 

 the cells of the first roAV into their proper forms, 

 they polish them and give them their finish, 

 while others begin the outline of a new series. 



The cells themselves, or prisms, which result 

 from the re-union and meeting of the sides, are 

 next constructed. These are engrafted on the 

 borders of the cavities hollowed in the mass. 

 The bees begin them by making the contour 



