88 INSECT MANUFACTURES. 



can work in the dark, and raise their wonderful 

 combs. 



All these proceedings are conducted with the 

 utmost regularity. The original mass of wax is 

 increased in a uniform quantity by the wax- 

 makers, who merely produce and carry the mate- 

 rials, but have not the art of sculpturing the cells. 

 Two masses of wax for combs are never begun at 

 the same time ; but no sooner are some rows of 

 cells constructed in the first mass, when two other 

 masses, one on each side of it, are established at 

 equal distances from it, and parallel to it, and then 

 again two more exterior to these. In a new hive 

 the bees work with such rapidity, that in twenty- 

 four hours they will sometimes construct a comb 

 twenty inches long by seven or eight inches wide, 

 and the hive will be half filled in five or six days ; 

 so that in the first fifteen days as mucli wax is 

 made as in the whole year besides. 



The commercial value of wax is considerable. 

 A simple way of preparing it for use is as follows. 

 When the hive has been cleared of honey, the wax 

 is put into a woollen bag firmly tied at the mouth ; 



