206 COMB-MAKING. 



Subsequent on the brief mention, as above, of the materials 

 employed by bee architects, should follow, properly, a descrip- 

 tion of the way in which they are accustomed to work them 

 up. We have never, ourselves, had an opportunity of fol- 

 lowing any of their wondrous operations as carried on within 

 the hive, which, by the way, would seem by no means an easy 

 matter, even when that hive is made of glass. We might 

 easily, however, copy, in an abbreviated form, some at least 

 of the relations given of their proceedings by Eeaumur, the 

 indefatigable Huber, and other bee historians ; but these, shorn 

 of their detail, would proportionately lose in interest. 



Since, therefore, our account of bee workmanship cannot 

 (consistently with our limits) be long enough to entertain, we 

 shall make it so very short, as at all events not to weary. We 

 would wish it, on the contrary, to stimulate, to serve just as an 

 incitement to the abundant but not cloying sweets of Huberts 

 delightful pages. There will be found in detail, ample and ac- 

 curate, how that, as a first preparatory step towards the con- 

 struction of a comb, the bees (called Wax-workers) suspend 

 themselves, from the empty interior of the hive, in necklace- 

 like festoons, and thus remain motionless for hours together, 

 apparently to rest, but in reality to secrete the wax which be- 

 comes visible on the rings of their bodies ; how that, in step 

 the second, the Bee foundress leaves the group, clears herself 

 a space, goes to work alone (hundreds of spectators watching 

 her proceedings), gathers from off her body, kneads with 



