SUMMER MANAGEMENT. 177 
masticated, the fabrication of comb commences.” 
An extraordinary degree of heat always accompanies 
comb-building, supplied no doubt by the large 
quantity of oxygen at that time generated. The 
rapidity with which comb-building proceeds is some- 
thing astonishing. Von Berlepsch tells us of the 
construction of four hundred square inches in a single 
night; while several other observers have cited in- 
stances almost on a level with this. 
The form and number of the combs in a hive 
vary considerably, the bees adapting them according 
to the shape of their domicile, so as to fit and fill 
in every part, and often very irregularly. At first 
they are beautifully white, but soon, from the heat of 
the hive, they become tinged, and finally turn nearly 
black. The worker-breeding cells are made the 
first: they are invariably hexagonal in form, and of 
one uniform size and depth; but those intended 
only for the storing of honey are often somewhat 
larger and elongated, sometimes more so on one 
side than the other. A small dip or inclination 
upwards is given to the cells, the better to prevent 
the honey from running out, assisted, moreover, by 
a small bar or thickened border of wax, at the 
entrances. The cells in which the drones are bred 
are larger in diameter than the common ones, and 
hey are generally placed nearer the outside of the 
hive, though occasionally joined on to the others. 
When this takes place, our little architects have the 
sagacity to interpose two or three rows of cells of 
an intermediate size, gradually enlarged to the 
proper dimensions; these, being of irregular figure, 
N 
