THE HIVE-BEE 91 



roof of the hive, or to- the upper bar of the frame supplied by 

 the bee-keeper, little pellets of wax. Other workers come in 

 to help, and the comb grows fast, the hew cells being 

 gradually added below. They are placed horizontally in a 

 double layer, the open mouth facing outwards. The work is 

 roughly done in the first instance, and its regularity, lightness, 

 and economy of material, which have been the wonder of 

 mankind in all ages, are the result of much subsequent trim- 

 ming and moulding. Every ordinary cell takes the form of a 

 six-sided prism, closed at one end by a pyramid of three 

 rhombical sides. Pins passed through each rhomb in turn 

 will be found to penetrate three different cells of the opposite 

 layer. Thus every cell abuts by its closed end upon three 

 others, an arrangement which greatly favours the strength of 

 the comb. The walls are extremely thin, and on an average 

 the weight of seventy-seven cells is only one gram. The cells 

 vary in size and character according to the uses to which they 

 are put. Pollen is stored in open cells, honey in sealed cells. 

 Honey-cells are deeper than brood cells, sometimes much 

 deeper, and inclined upwards, so as to lessen the tendency of 

 the honey to flow out. The cells in which larvae are reared are 

 sealed just before pupation. Drone-cells are of larger than 

 ordinary size, queen-cells very large and clumsy, built upon a 

 number of cut-down ordinary cells at the margin of the comb, 

 and only showing economy of material in the pitting of the 

 walls. Combs are used repeatedly until they grow black with 

 age, and the material of a disused comb is often worked into 

 new constructions. 



Swammerdam, more than two hundred years ago,, proved 

 by dissection that the queen -bee is the fertile female, the 

 workers incompletely developed females, and the drones males. 

 It is needless to say that the queen exercises no command ; 

 she is timid, averse to the light of day, and on the slightest 

 appearance of danger takes refuge in the innermost recesses 

 of the hive. The workers, who really govern the bee-republic, 

 are aware of the great value of the queen, but allow her, 

 except on rare occasions, neither liberty nor choice. Two 

 emergencies only rouse the queen to unaccustomed activity. 

 When she first emerges from the pupa-skin in early summer, 

 she remains for six days quiet within the hive. After that 

 interval she chooses a fine afternoon when the drones are 



