FORMATION OF WAX. 377 



walk, and advancing, retreating, or sidling as she happens tc 

 move. 



The males, or drones, are comparatively numerous. They 

 can be at once recognised by their greater thickness, and the 

 blunt abdomen with its little tufts of hair. Even on the wing 

 the drone Bee can be distinguished by its low, dull, deep hum. 

 It seems to be much more sluggish in its ways than the worker. 

 Some years ago, when I was engaged in reproducing the dis- 

 sections of John Hunter, I supplied myself with drone Bees, by 

 watching the entrance of the hive, and taking the drones off 

 the foot-board as they came out of the hive. They seldom 

 troubled themselves to make any effort at escape, and I could 

 take as many as I liked without even arousing the anger 

 of the workers. 



As to the workers themselves, they are so familiar that 

 nothing need be said about their appearance. 



The construction of the nest differs from that of any other 

 insect, though it bears a great resemblance to that of the wasp 

 or the hornet. The cells are hexagonal, but are made of wax 

 instead of paper. They are double, being set end to end, or 

 rather, base to base, and lie nearly horizontally, instead of 

 perpendicularly as in the wasp tribe. We will glance at each 

 of these points, and will first take the material of which the 

 nest or ' comb ' is made. 



This, as we all know, is wax, and, as most of us know, is 

 secreted by the Bee, and not gathered from flowers, as was 

 formerly thought to be the case. When the Bees are about to 

 build a new comb they hang in strings, holding by each other's 

 feet, and remain in that position for a considerable time, 

 perfectly still. If, at the expiration of that period, the under 

 side of the insect be examined, six tiny white crescents will be 

 seen. These crescents are the edges of the wax plates, which 

 project from beneath tlie little flaps called ' wax-pockets.' 

 With the exercise of a little care, the plates of wax may be 

 removed from the pockets, and put up as specimens. Much 

 care, however, must be taken of them, as I have learned by 

 experience. I had, with some trouble, secured the six plates of 

 a single Bee, and had arranged them in their order upon a slip 

 of dark -blue paper, which was carefully inserted into a bottle. 

 One bright summer day, a visitor was examining the series of bee- 



