OF THE INTELLIGENCE AND OF INSTINCT. 177 



The working bee for collecting the wax enters a flower, the 

 stamens of which are loaded with pollen. This dust attaches 

 itself to the brush-like hairs covering the body of the bee, 

 when, by rubbing itself with the brushes with which the 

 tarsi are furnished (Fig. 131), the insect collects it into little 

 parcels, which it places on small palettes, hollowed out on 

 the surface of its hind limbs (Fig. 132). By the aid of 

 mandibles the working bees also detach from the surface of 

 plants a resinous matter called propolis, and with it they 

 also charge their little baskets. Thus loaded the bees return 

 to deposit in the interior of the hive the materials they have 

 collected, to set out again in quest of more. The labour in 

 the interior of the hive is more complex. They begin by 

 closing with the propolis every fissure in the habitation, leav- 

 ing but one opening, of no great dimensions. They next pro- 

 ceed to the formation of the comb intended to lodge the 

 young, and to serve as store-cells for the provisions of the 

 community. The comb is made of wax, found in various 

 plants, but which is also secreted by the bees themselves in 

 organs situated under the abdominal rings. These combs, 



Fig. 131. Working Bee. Fig. 132. Hinder Foot and 



Leg of the Bee. 



or rows, are composed of two layers of hexagonal cells, with 

 a pyramidal base, and suspended perpendicularly by one of 

 their sides. Empty spaces are left between them, to permit 

 of the bees reaching every part. The cells are arranged hori- 

 zontally, and are open at one of their extremities ; they are 

 all of nearly the same dimensions, but some few are called 

 royal, being much larger than the others, almost cylindrical, 

 and are destined to contain the female larvae. 



Bees enclose with a covering of wax the cells containing the 



