COMBS. 23 



honey bag as into a laboratory, where it is transformed 

 into pure honey; and when she returns to the hive she 

 regurgitates it in this form into one of the cells appro- 

 priated to that purpose, in order that after tribute is 

 paid from it to the Queen, it may constitute a supply of 

 food for the rest of the community." 



Virgil asserted, "a Bee is a ray of divinity;" and when 

 studying with awe the wonders of the Bee-hive, so beauti- 

 ful in their simplicity, so perfect in their ends, can we 

 fail to acknowledge the presence of that All-guiding 

 Hand, who, by these little insects and all their wondrous 

 works, teaches man a lesson of industry, forethought, and 

 order. 



COMBS. 



" Galleries of Art, and Schools of Industry." 



Combs, as everyone knows, are built by the Bees of wax, 

 which is a natural secretion of the builders and appears 

 in fine scales between their abdominal rings ; it is elim- 

 inated from honey, or other saccharine food, possibly 

 assisted by a simultaneous consumption of Bee bread. 

 It was formerly believed that Bees secreted wax from 

 pollen, which we now know to be wrong, from the much 

 greater facilities for observation we enjoy. 



After a hard day's work in honey gathering the Bees 

 do not rest, but employ the night in comb-building ; this 

 work being then chiefly carried on, and on days when 

 the weather forbids out-door employment ; thus no time 

 is lost, even if they be confined several days. If the 

 combs of a hive are examined, the cells will be found to 

 be hexagonal — of several sizes — those for Drones and 



