456 HOMES WITHOUT HANDS. 



bag, which is closely analogous to the crop of a bird, and it would 

 seem that the honey ought rather to pass into the stomach than 

 be disgorged at the will of the insect. However, it is well known 

 that many birds feed their young by disgorging food, and the Bee 

 is enabled to perform the same operation by means of a little valve 

 which leads from the honey-bag into the stomach, and is plainly 

 perceptible even with the unassisted eye. Under ordinary cir- 

 cumstances, the valve just allows the food to pass gently and grad- 

 ually into the stomach ;' but the violent effort which is made in 

 ejecting the food closes the valve, and only allows the honey to 

 flow upward through the mouth. 



The office of the worker and drone cells is twofold — first, to act 

 as nurseries for the insects while passing through their prelimin- 

 ary stages, and, next, to serve as repositories for food, whether 

 liquid or solid. The egg of the queen bee is placed nearly at the 

 bottom of the cell, exactly on the angle where the points of the 

 lozenges meet. It is soon hatched into a little white grub, which 

 is assiduously fed by the nurses, and grows with wonderful rapid- 

 ity. As soon as it has eaten its last larval meal, it spins a silken 

 cover over the cell, and remains there until it has become a per- 

 fect insect. It then bites its way out, and after a day or so de- 

 voted to hardening and strengthening its limbs, it leaves the hive 

 and joins in the labors of the community. 



No sooner is the Bee fairly out of its waxen nursery than the 

 workers clear out the cell, and prepare it for the reception of 

 honey. As soon as the cell is filled, the Bees close up the en- 

 trance with a waxen door, which is air-tight, and serves to pre- 

 serve the honey in proper condition. Those who wish to eat 

 honey in its pure state should always purchase it in the comb. 

 If it be stored in pots, however well they may be sealed, it always 

 crystallizes, and in that state is injurious to digestion. Moreover, 

 it is so extensively adulterated that a pot of really pure honey is 

 not readily obtained. 



Besides the honey, "bee-bread" is placed in the cells. This is 

 a compound of honey and the pollen of flowers, and is chiefly 

 used as food for the young grubs. We may often see the Bees 

 hastening home with a load of yellow pollen on each of the hind- 

 er pair of legs, and this pollen is destined to be made into bee- 

 bread. 



Such, then, is a brief outline of the wonderful social habitation 

 which is made by the Hive-bee. 



