HYMENOPTERA 



2 73 



many of her subjects, forms 

 a new swarm and goes off 

 to start a new colony, thus 

 insuring the multiplication 

 and continuance of the spe- 

 cies. The comb is made of 

 wax, and is constructed in 

 thin, hexagonal cells so as 

 to use as little material as 

 possible, for it takes twenty- 

 one pounds of honey to make 

 one pound of wax. To secure 

 the wax, some of the workers 

 gorge themselves with honey 

 and hang in a curtainlike mass 

 in the hive. In a day or so the 

 wax commences to exude 

 from the wax plates on the 

 underside of the abdomen 

 and is scraped off and used 

 by other workers in construct- 

 ing the comb. From the buds 

 of various trees, particularly 

 the poplar, they collect a 

 sort of resin, called propolis, 

 which is used for cementing 

 crevices in the hive. The 



Tb 



drones, but for the queen cell a royal jelly, which is excreted from 

 the mouths of the workers and is very nutritious. Any worker egg 

 may be developed into a queen 

 at the desire of the workers 

 by enlarging the cell and feed- 

 ing the larva with this royal 

 jelly. In the spring new 

 queens appear in the colony, 

 which are defended from the 

 old queen by the workers, 

 when the old queen, with 



iTar 



,Tb 



Cb 



FIG. 436. Legs of the honey-bee 



A, left front leg of worker (anterior view), show- 

 ing position of notch (dd) of antenna cleaner 

 on base of first tarsal joint (/ Tar) and of clos- 

 ing spine (ee) on end of tibia (Tb) ; , left 

 hind-leg of worker (anterior view), showing the 

 pollen-basket (Cb) on outer surface of tibia 

 (Tb) ; C, inner view of first tarsal joint of hind- 

 leg of worker, showing rows of pollen-gather- 

 ing hairs and the so-called "wax shears." 

 (After Snodgrass, United States Department 

 of Agriculture) 



