The Life of the Bee 



patent to any one who may gather a 

 swarm into a glass hive. 



We have to admit, first of all, that we 

 know not yet by what process of alchemy 

 the honey transforms itself into wax in 

 the enigmatic bodies of our suspended 

 bees. We can only say that they will 

 remain thus suspended for a period ex- 

 tending from eighteen to twenty-four 

 hours, in a temperature so high that one 

 might almost believe that a fire was burn- 

 ing in the hollow of the hive ; and then 

 white and transparent scales will appear 

 at the opening of four little pockets that 

 every bee has underneath its abdomen. 



When the bodies of most of those 

 who form the inverted cone have thus 

 been adorned with ivory tablets, we shall 

 see one of the bees, as though suddenly 

 inspired, abruptly detach herself from the 

 mass, and climb over the backs of the 



passive crowd till she reach the inner 



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