- THE BEE. 



themselves with the labour of taking the provisions thus deposited 

 from the lower to the upper parts of the combs. 



115. In fig. 51, is shown a piece of comb in process of construc- 

 tion. It has, as usual, an oval form. The wax, of which it is 

 formed, is white, but as it advances in age it takes successively a 



Fig. 51. 



darker and darker colour, being first yellow, then reddish, and 

 sometimes even becomes blackish. The sides of the cells are 

 gradually thickened, by the constant adhesion and accumulation 

 of the cocoons, of which the nymphs successively bred in them are 

 divested. The top and sides of the comb are every where 

 strongly cemented, by a mixture of propolis and wax, to the roof 

 and sides of the hive. These structures are almost never known 

 to fall except by some accidental cause external to the hive, such 

 as a blow or the too intense heat of the sun dissolving the 

 cement. 



116. The character and manners of the bee have an intimate 

 relation with its social organisation. We have seen that in the 

 56 



