HOME OF THE HONEY BEE. 41 



CHAPTER XI. 



THE HOME OF THE HONEY BEE,— INTRODUCTORY. 



In the last chapter we considered a few simple things, 

 in a general way, about the inhabitants of the hive, — 

 the qneen, the workers, and the drones. Leaving for 

 the present the consideration of what is more difficult 

 to understand about them, we will now, in the same 

 way, try and get a general idea of the wonders of the 

 hive itself — the home of the bees. 



And looking into a hive, the first thing we notice 

 is, of course, a number of combs, of which you know 

 well the general appearance. If we are examining 

 a common straw hive, we shall see that these combs 

 are of different sizes and shapes, all made to hang 

 from the top of the hive, and so carefully arranged 

 side by side, that just sufficient space is always left, 

 between any two of them, to allow the bees, when 

 crawling about them, to pass one another easily, — 



'Galleries of art, and schools of industry !' 



And now — as what we find in the hive will depend 

 in some measure on the time of year — let us first of 

 all suppose that it is summer time. Let us say that it 

 is the month of June. And then, when we examine 

 the combs, we find in the centre of them all — in 

 the best and warmest part — the portion which is 

 called the 'brood-nest,' or, as we may term it, the 

 nursery of the hive, where there are in the cells great 

 numbers of young bees in all the different stages of 



