ORDER IX. HYMENOPTERA.— HONEY BEES. O20 
in its composition according to the sort of individuals it is intended for. 
Another substance collected iy bees from the opening buds of poplar and 
other trees, and used by them for lining their hives and stopping holes, is 
called propolis. . 
The working bees, according to Huber, are of two kinds —one whose 
duty it is to gather the food and materials for the hive; the other, composed 
of smaller and feebler insects, which are employed exclusively in the care 
of the young within the hive. 
The comb is always built from above downwards. The cells, with the 
exception of those for the female larva and nymphs, are nearly of equal size, 
some containing the progeny, and others the honey and pollen of flowers. 
The regal cells are greatly superior in size, and are from two to forty in 
number. The season of laying commences early in summer, and continues 
till autumn. 
The female lays’ as many as twenty thousand eggs in twenty-four days. 
Each sort of egg she places in the appropriate cell. The eggs laid at the 
beginning of summer all belong to the working sort, and are hatched in 
four days. The larve are regularly fed by the workers for about seven 
days, when they are enclosed in their cell, spin a cocoon, and become 
nymphs; they become perfect bees in about twelve days. These consecu- 
tive generations form so many distinct communities, which leave the parent 
hive to found new colonies elsewhere. This operation is called swarming, 
at which time the community, including the queen, appears to be seized with 
a kind of delirium, and the bees execute a number of extraordinary manceu- 
vres before the colonization is fully effected. 
A swarm of bees weighs about eight pounds. 
The honey which fills the store cells is intended for daily consumption, 
and also as a reserve for the period when the flowers furnish no more. 
The empty cells are left open, the workers making use of them when they 
want them, particularly during rainy days, which keep them at home. But 
the cells which contain the honey put by in reserve are closed. “ They are,” 
says Réaumur, “like so many little pots of jam or jelly, each one of which 
has its covering, and a very solid covering it is too.” 
Réaumur, the Hubers, father and son, and other observers have collected 
an immense mass of curious and surprising facts regarding the bees, which 
would fill many volumes. We must be contented with the introduction 
here of a few of the most striking. 
Tuem Mopr or Lanor. — The exterior of a hive —we employ in part 
the words of M. Victor Rendre — gives the best idea of this laborious peo- 
ple. From morning till night all is movement and industry. Hundreds of 
bees are constantly arriving from the fields laden with provisions; others, 
