WAX. 128 



bees weigh exactly. " I can tell you," some one ex- 

 claims, "I saw some weighed, — so many w§igh just 

 eight ounces." Are you sure there was nothing but 

 bees weighed? Was there- no honey, bee-bread, fasces, 

 or other substance, that might deceive you ? " Can't 

 say ; I never thought of thatl" Now it is important, 

 if we weigh- bees to know their weight, to be sure 

 We weigh nothing else. It is evident, that if five 

 thousand weigh three pounds, when nothing is in their 

 sacks, they would weigh, when filled with honey, 

 several pounds more. Hence, the fallacy of judging 

 of the size- of a Swarm by weight, as one swarm 

 might issue with half the honey of another. Per- 

 haps eight pounds, for ferge swarms,, might be an av- 

 erage for bees and honey. This honey, whatever it 

 amounts to, cannot be stored till combs are construct- 

 ed to hold it. This principle holds good till the hive 

 is full. That is, whenever they have more honey than 

 the combs will hold, if there is room in the hive, they 

 construct more. But they seem to go no farther than 

 this in comb-making. However large the'swarm may 

 be, this compulsion appears" necessary to fill the hive. 

 Drone-cells are seldom made in the top of the hive, 

 but a part, are generally joined on the worker-cells, 

 a little distance from the top ; others near the' bottom. 

 There seems to be no rule about the number of such 

 cells.' Some hives will contain twice the number of 

 others. It may depend^ on the yield of honey at the 

 time ; when very plenty, more drone-cells, &c. If the 

 hive be very large, no doubt an unprofitable number 

 would be constructed. Where the large and snwU 



