36 GRAMMAR OF ENTOMOLOGY. 



the comb being thicker than the rest, and forming 

 a kind of knot. 



109. The common breeding cells of drones 

 and workers are occasionally made the depositories 

 of honey ; but the cells are never made sufficiently 

 clean to preserve the honey undeteriorated. The 

 finest honey is stored in new cells, constructed for 

 the purpose of receiving it, their form resembling 

 precisely that of the common breeding cells : these 

 honey cells vary in size, being larger or smaller 

 according to the productiveness of the sources 

 from which the bees are collecting, and also ac- 

 cording to the season. 



110. The cells formed in July and August 

 being intended only for honey, are larger and 

 deeper than those formed earlier : the texture of 

 their walls is thinner, and thus they have more dip 

 or inclination : this dip diminishes the risk of the 

 honey's running out, which, from the heat of the 

 weather at this season, and its consequent thinness, 

 it is liable to do. 



111. When the cells intended for holding the 

 winter's provision are filled, they are always closed 

 with waxen lids, and are never re-opened till the 

 whole of the honey in the unfilled cells is expended : 

 the waxen lids are thus formed : the bees first 

 construct a ring of wax within the verge of the 

 cells, to which other rings are successively added, 

 till the aperture of the cell is finally closed by a 

 lid composed of concentric circles. 



