46 A PHILOSOPHER WITH NATURE 



Those colonies which I have this year are just 

 now (July) in the heyday of their prosperity. The 

 one to which I have already referred is arranged 

 for observation. The bees resent any interference 

 with the nest during the daytime, but here beneath 

 the shade of my reading-lamp I can remove the 

 mossy dome, lined inside with wax and waterproof, 

 exposing the busy scene underneath, without any 

 hostile demonstration being attempted against me. 

 After a few moments' perturbation the bees do not 

 seem to miss the covering, and the work of the nest 

 goes on as usual. It is an interesting sight. The 

 bees are aU employed in some way, some excavating 

 round the edges of the nest to make room for the 

 growing bulk within, others attending to the multitu- 

 dinous duties connected with the shaping of cells 

 and cocoons and the wants of the young larvae. 

 Even those which appear to be lazily stretched at 

 full length over the cells are not lying luxuriously 

 at their ease as might be thought, but are helping 

 to keep warm the young larvae within, assisting their 

 development by a kind of incubation. The so- 

 called honeycomb in the nests of the humble bee 

 is a poor affair compared with the beautiful structure 

 manufactured by the hive bees ; it is not reedly 

 of the same nature, but consists simply of the cocoons 

 of the young insects irregularly fastened together. 

 Some of those in the nest still contain the yoimg 

 brood, but others out of which the young insects 

 have emerged have been used for the storage of 

 honey. Those dark brown protuberances affixed 

 in some places to the cocoons, looking like small 

 accumidations of wax kept in reserve, have an 

 interesting history ; they contain the young bees 



