17 
The sheets of comb are vertical and parallel, but may not be 
plane. That is to say, if there should be convexities in one there 
will be corresponding coneavities in the adjacent comb. In each 
sheet there is a central mid-rib with sets of cells arranged on 
both sides. The cells are not quite horizontal, having a slight 
upward tilt in order to retain thin unripened honey. The 
shape and delicacy of the cells is not evident from an outside 
view, because each cell is finished off with a thickened rim, 
which tends to make it look round and clumsy. If 
these outside rims be shaved off with a warm sharp blade 
it will be seen that the cells are perfectly hexagonal, and that 
the walls are thinner than tissue paper. How the bee with 
its horny mandibles is able to thin them down with such 
admirable precision is one of the things that we find difficult 
to understand. Possibly the hairs displayed on the mandibles 
may be the sensitive mechanism which gives to those horny 
tools the necessary delicacy of touch. 
The Worker Bee. 
In a hive in the summer time there are three well marked 
types. There is the worker bee, of which we have been 
writing hitherto. It does all the spectacular work of the 
hive, the gathering of nectar, the collection of propolis 
and pollen, the carrying of water, the tending of brood, the 
building of the comb, the fighting and the stinging. But 
there is one very important bit of work which it cannot 
perform. Although the workers are all female and developed 
from an egg identical with that which produced the queen, 
yet the essential organs of sex are comparatively undeveloped, 
and the worker bee as a rule is incapable of laying eggs. 
Under stress of circumstances a stock that is hopelessly 
queenless may develop laying workers, that is, a number of 
workers (not one as is generally stated) will start laying eggs 
in the cells, but these eggs produce only drone bees, and it 
is not generally believed that a laying worker can ever 
become the mother of a worker bee or queen. A stock 
consisting, therefore, solely of workers would ultimately 
