38 



ANIMAL BIOLOGY 



save the bees' time and to insure even comb, beekeepers usually 

 insert in the frames or honej' boxes thin sheets of wax "foundation " 

 on which the bases of the cells have been impressed by machinery. 

 Upon this the workers build the comb outward. But without this 

 assistance from man the comb cells are usually remarkably regular 



and show the greatest 

 economy in the use of 

 wax. The cross section 

 of each cell is a hexagon, 

 and so these compart- 

 ments fit together with- 

 out any spaces between 

 them as would occur if 

 the cells were cyUnders. 

 (See Fig. 27.) This hex- 

 agonal shape also permits 

 a single partition wall to 

 serve for two adjacent 

 cells, and it is evident 

 that this shape of cell 

 more closely fits the body 

 of the bee than would 

 a four-sided cell. The 

 worker bees buUd two 

 different sizes of cells in 

 the comb. Most of the 

 cells average about 

 twentjr-five to a square 

 inch, and in these the fertilized eggs are laid, which, as we have 

 said, develop into workers. The cells in which unfertilized eggs 

 are deposited are somewhat larger. These form the so-called 

 dro7ie comb. 



The wax from which the comb is produced oozes out from cer- 

 tain glands on the ventral surface of the abdomen of the workers. 

 When producing the wax the bees hang motionless inside the liive 

 for several days, each holding to the bees above. They have al- 



FiG. 27. — Worker cells and queen cells. 

 (From " A, B, C of Bee Culture." A. I. and 

 E. R. Root.) 



