200 THE LORE OF THE HONEY-BEE 
the roof of the hive, with their queen snug and 
warm in their midst. 
No doubt one of the chief reasons why swarming 
bees unite themselves in the solid pendant mass of 
the cluster so soon after leaving the parent-hive, 
is to hasten this process of wax-formation. It has 
been proved that wax is only generated under the 
influence of great heat, and this is well secured in 
the heart of the cluster. By the time the scouts 
have decided on the new home, and the swarm 
must rise again on the wing, a great number of 
the bees will have their wax-pockets filled, and 
will be ready for the work of comb-making. When 
a swarm is hived, even if it be only a short time 
after its issue, the little white wax-scales can be 
seen protruding from the armour-joints of many of 
the bees, and these are often dropped and lost in 
the general confusion. 
One of the most difficult things to observe in 
bee-life is the actual process of comb-building. 
The crush is so great, and the movement of the 
bees so incessant, that at first the comb seems to 
grow of itself rather than be made by the busy 
multitude, for ever obscuring it from the watcher’s 
eyes, or giving him but the rarest glimpse now 
and then of its white, delicate frailty of pattern. 
These early efforts of the comb-builders, produced 
as they are under forced circumstances, are occa- 
sionally faulty of design, as though hastily knocked 
together. Sometimes the first groups of cells made 
