CONSTRUCTION OF COMBS. 



of each segment covered by the preceding one shall be disclose 

 (fig. 29). 



In these pockets the substance to be ultimately converted into 

 wax is secreted from the food taken into the stomach, which, 



Fig. 29. 



transpiring from thence through the membrane of 

 the wax-pocket, is formed there in thin laminae. 

 The stomach and its appendages which are en- 

 dowed with these functions, though much less 

 capacious in the nurses than in the wax-makers, 

 is not altogether absent ; and the nurses have a 

 certain limited power of secreting wax. In them 

 the wax-making function, however, seems to exist 

 in little more than a rudimentary state. 



69. Although the chief duty of the wax-makers 



is that from which they have taken their names, they are also 

 capable of producing honey, and when the hive is abundantly 

 furnished with combs, they accordingly change the object of their 

 industry and produce honey instead of wax. 



70. When a comb is about to be constructed, the operation is 

 commenced by the wax-makers, who, having taken a due portion 

 of honey or sugar, from either of which wax can be elaborated, 



Fig. so. suspend themselves one to ano- 



therthe claws of the fore-legs 

 of the lowermost being attached 

 to those of the hind-legs of the 

 next above them, so that they 

 form a cluster, the external sur- 

 face of which presents the appear- 

 ance of a fringed curtain (fig. 30). 

 After having remained in this 

 state unmoved for about twenty- 

 four hours, during which period 

 the material of the wax is secreted, the thin lamina into which it is 

 formed may generally be perceived under the abdomen. 



A single bee is now seen to separate itself from the cluster and 

 to pass from among its companions to the roof of the hive, where 

 by turning itself round, it clears a circular space for. its work, 

 about an inch in diameter. Having done this, it proceeds to lay 

 the foundation of a comb in the following manner, if one may be 

 permitted to apply the word foundation to the top of a suspended 

 structure. 



71. The foundress bee, as this individual is called, commences 

 its work by seizing with one of its hind feet a plate of wax, 

 or rather of the material out of which wax is to be constituted, 

 from between the segments of its abdomen. The insect is 



2 35 



