55S 



ARTICULATA. 



WOKKIXG BEES. 



also fill their little baskets. Thus loaded the bees return to deposit in the interior of the hive, the 

 materials collected, which being done, they set out again in quest of more. The labor in the inte-. 



,,--^a=^^ rior of the hive is more complex. They 



' < •, X begin by closing with the propolis 



every fissure in the habitation, leaving 

 but one opening of no great dimen- 

 sions. They next proceed to the for- 

 mation 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 situ- 

 ated under the abdominal base, and 

 suspended perpendicularly by one of 

 their sides. Empty spaces are left be- 

 tween them to permit of the bees 

 reaching every part. The cells are 

 arranged horizontally, and are open at 

 one of their extremities ; they are all 

 of nearly the same dimensions, but 

 some few, called royal, are much larger than the others, almost cylindrical, and destined to con- 

 tain the female larvjc. 



Bees inclose with a covering of wax the cells containing the honey, and they take means to 

 strengthen the combs when any accident threatens their safety. The males do not share in these 

 labors, and when they are no longer of any use to the community, the working bees sting them 

 to death. This carnage takes place between June and August, and it extends even to the male 

 larvfe and nympha3. 



The female does no work ; she is always pampered and attended to with the utmost care by 

 the rest of the hive. She is larger and longer than the other bees ; she moves in a slow and 



TEE HOXEY-COMB. 



