THE HONEY-BEE 39 



clustered together in a mass of moving insects, 



perhaps as small as a cricket ball, perhaps five 



feet in height and at its widest a foot or more 



in diameter. The swarm either finds a new 



home for itself in a hollow tree, or more usually 



is " hived " by a bee-master in a skip. After 



cleaning out and if necessary smoothing the 



walls of their new home, 



the worker-bees imme- 



diately begin the forma- 



tion of the wax-combs. 



An uppermost row of 



bees clasps the roof of 



the hive with their fore- 



legs supporting other rows FIG a 



below them Until We Ventral view of a worker bee in 



the act of removing a wax scale 



find a living veil of bees 



hanging from the roof areuse( forsu PP rt - < 



of the hive. All these bees are secreting wax 



on the wax-plates of their abdomens. To produce 



this they must previously have consumed much 



honey. Latter tells us that to produce i Ib. of 



wax 15 Ibs. of honey must be eaten. Fig. 2 



shows how the wax-plates are disengaged from 



the abdomen and passed forward to be moulded 



by the mandibles. 



