Building Comb — An Accident. 75 



of bees upward, and Buz was off directly to see 

 what was the matter. 



On reaching the top of the hive, she joined a number 

 of bees who were crowding through a hole in the 

 roof, and found herself at once in a fine open space 

 above. Here a bee was gesticulating excitedly with 

 her antennae, and Buz joined the group of listeners 

 round her. 



"All I know is," said the bee, "that I happened 

 to be at work on the roof just underneath where 

 this hole has appeared. Everything was quite 

 secure, nothing loose at all. There was no passage 

 up, not even a very little one — that I'm sure of; and 

 then, all of a sudden there was ! I heard a kind of a 

 tearing, scraping sound, and it became quite light ! I 

 saw this hole, ran up as fast as I could, and found 

 myself here. That's all I can tell you." 



" But was there nothing moving near the top of 

 the hole when you came through?" asked one of 

 the bees. 



"Certainly not : that's the odd part of it. Every 

 thing was as quiet as possible. Now, any one may 

 account for it who can. I can't."* 



As the bee moved away after saying this, Buz ran 



* The gardener had drawn back the slide at the top of the hive, 

 and placed a glass super in position for the bees to fill. 



