THE HIVE BEE. 427 



young gnib which has been hatched in one of the worker-cells 

 be removed into the royal-cell, and supplied with royal food, it 

 becomes developed into a queen, and, in time, is qualified to 

 rule and populate a hive. This remarkable provision of nature 

 is intended to meet a difficulty, which sometimes occurs, when the 

 reigning queen dies, and there is no royal larva in the cell. 



Although the primary object of the bee-cell is to serve as a 

 storehouse and a nursery, it also is made to answer other pur- 

 poses. When the Bee seeks repose, it almost invariably creeps 

 into a cell, and buries itself deeply therein, the whole head, 

 thorax, and part of the abdomen being hidden. If a hive be 

 examined in the winter-time, every cell that happens to be 

 empty will be tenanted by a Bee ; and when the poor insects 

 are put to death by the absurd and cruel plan of smothering 

 them with the fumes of burning sulphur, they will be found to 

 have vainly sought escape from the suffocating vapour by forcing 

 themselves into the recesses of the empty cells. 



As a general fact, the Bees place the honey in the coolest part 

 of the hive, and the young brood in the warmest ; so that bee- 

 keepers are enabled to procure honeycomb of wonderful purity 

 by affixing glass or wooden caps to their hives. These caps are 

 necessarily cooler than the body of the hive, and therein the 

 Bees will store large quantities of honey. 



The chief point which distinguishes the comb of the Ilive 

 Bee from that of other insects, is the manner in which the cells 

 are arranged in a double series. The combs of the wasp or the . 

 hornet are single, and are aiTanged horizontally, so that their 

 cells are vertical, with the mouths downwards and the bases 

 upwards, the united bases forming a floor on which the nurse 

 wasps can walk while feeding the young inclosed in the row of 

 cells immediately above them. 



Such, however, is not the case with the Hive Bee. As every 

 one knows, who has seen a bee-comb, the cells are laid nearly 

 horizontally, and in a double series, just as if a couple of 

 thimbles were laid on the table with the points touching each 

 other and their mouths pointing in opposite directions. Increase 

 the number of thimbles, and there will be a tolerable imitation 

 of a bee-comb. 



There is another point which must now be examined. If the 

 bases of the cells were to be rounded like those of the thimbles, 



