THE COMB-BUILDERS 203 
to work to fulfil them in the best imaginable 
way. 
A city is to be built which is to accommodate 
twenty or thirty thousand individuals. Vast 
nursery-quarters must be constructed, as there may 
be as many as ten or twelve thousand youngsters 
to cradle at one and the same time. For at least six 
months of the year no food will be obtainable from 
outside, so that the city must contain large store- 
houses capable of holding more than a six months’ 
supply. As the temperature in winter can be kept 
up only by the bodily warmth of the inhabitants, 
life in the city must be concentrated into the 
smallest possible space; and the materials of which 
the city is built must be heat-conserving, while its 
construction must allow of perfect ventilation at all 
times, and in summer it must permit a free circula- 
tion of air, that the surplus heat can be readily 
carried off. The city must be a fortress as well as 
a home, and be closed in on every side as a pro- 
tection against its many enemies, as well as the 
weather. 
There is another, and just as vital a condition 
governing its construction—the necessity for strict 
economy in material. If there were any natural 
substance having the qualities of tenacity, light- 
ness, ductility, and strength which the bees could 
obtain out of doors instead of wax, no doubt they 
would use it for comb-building, and they would not 
spend hours of precious time and consume large 
