268 The Poets and Natiire. 



the half-dormant creatures to move about, the latter com- 

 mence their toil. The hive is thoroughly cleaned up and 

 set to rights after the wear and tear of a winter's habitation, 

 and as soon as the flowers begin to bloom, and buds to 

 show, they begin the work of collecting honey to refill the 

 cells which have been emptied during the cold weather; 

 pollen for mixing with honey and making " bee-bread " to 

 feed the coming grubs with; and " propolis," the resinous 

 exudation of buds, for use as glue, caulking, and varnish for 

 ^repairing, fastening up, and finishing off the cells. These 

 cells are built of "wax" (a substance which the bees do 

 not collect, but which exudes from their bodies, an involun- 

 tary secretion), and are made of four sizes, for holding the 

 grubs of " neuters," " drones " (or male-bees), and " queens " 

 respectively, and as jars for honey and bee-bread. They 

 are as a rule six-sided. But this form results not from 

 any hexagonal design on the part of the bees, but from the 

 manner of their building, and the pressure upon one another 

 of six cylinders being built simultaneously. The exceptions 

 are the cells upon the edges of the comb, or isolated cells, 

 for these, having no such pressure on their sides, remain 

 cylindrical. In each cell the queen deposits an egg, which 

 hatches into a grub ; this again turns into a chrysalis, and 

 from the chrysalis in about three weeks' time, more or 

 less, from the laying of the egg there emerges a bee. 

 According to the size of the cell in which the egg was 

 laid, and the kind of food upon which the grub was fed, 

 the bee that emerges is either a neuter or male. In a 

 few cells, which are often shaped like acorns and are much 

 larger than the rest, are laid eggs of which the grubs are fed 

 entirely upon a special " royal " jelly instead of ordinary 

 bee-bread, and these grubs turn into queens, or would do 

 so if the old queen did not, on discovering that another 

 female had come forth, go round and kill the rest. The 

 young queen that has already issued is carefully protected 



