Honey-Comb Coral. 157 
storing, for such we better fashion the large-celled or drone- 
comb. 
All comb when first formed is clear and translucent. 
The fact that it is often dark and opaque implies that it has 
been long used as brood comb, and the opacity is due to 
the innumerable thin glue-like cocoons which line the cells. 
These may be separated by dissolving the wax; which 
may be done by putting it in boiling alcohol, or, better 
still, by use of the solar wax-extractor. Such comb need 
not be discarded, for if composed of worker-cells it is still 
very valuable for breeding purposes, and should not be 
Fic. 54. 
Honey-Comb Coral, 
destroyed till the cells are too small for longer service, which 
will not occur till after many years of use. The function, 
then, of the wax, is to make comb and caps for the honey 
cells, and, combined with pollen, to form queen-cells (Fig. 
53,,@) and caps for the brood-cells. 
A very common fossil found in many parts of the East- 
ern and Northern United States is, from its appearance, 
often called petrified honey-comb. We have many such 
specimens in our museum. In some cases the cells are 
hardly larger than a pin-head; in others a quarter of an 
