THE HIVE-BEE 293 



and assist in the construction of cells. Whether these 

 Meliponas swarm after the fashion of hive-bees is 

 uncertain, and has not yet been confirmed. 



All those characters that make for efficiency and 

 permanence are enhanced in the hive-bee. The 

 colonies are permanent. From each, at the height 

 of its prosperity, a swarm of workers issues which 

 is led by the old queen and forms the nucleus of 

 a new settlement, whilst the workers left in the old 

 colony rear, by a special food, a new queen from one 

 of the royal cells, and she, after the destruction of her 

 royal sisters, assumes the command. The old colony is 

 thus gradually re-established. The structure of the 

 hive is such as to economise space and to accommodate 

 the largest amount of breeding and storage cells. 

 The royal cells are few and somewhat acorn-shaped. 

 The large drone-cells, and those for storing extra honey, 

 are linked up with the great mass of worker and storage 

 cells by a series of transition cells. Each cell is a 

 hexagonal tube, and it has been shown that by adopting 

 this form for their cells the bees have solved with 

 mathematical nicety the problem of how most closely 

 and strongly to fit cells together. But not only have 

 bees combined these advantages with the greatest 

 thrift in material, they have also bound the cells 

 together into a comb, and attached it to the hive- 

 walls in a way that combines symmetry and strength, 

 whilst yet permitting of traffic, incomings and out- 

 goings, and ventilation without mutual interference. 



The diverse kinds of cells are evolved from one 



