The Life of the Individual 



109 



Fig. 55. — Ventral view of worker re- 

 moving wax-scale. Enlarged. 



their proper position and 



shape. In spite of the 



number of bees at work 



in building, the wax is 



quickly smoothed into its 



final form, becoming a 



part of the comb. 



Dreyhng ^ has shown 



that in just emerged 



worker bees the cells of 



the wax glands are not 



fully developed and that 



as the worker grows older 



the cells elongate. As the 



bee ages, however, these 



cells decrease and degen- 

 erate. These results fully support the observations of 



beekeepers that bees secrete wax best before they become 



field bees. If, however, a colony of old bees is required to 



build comb, the bees can 

 still secrete some wax, but 

 for some reason not under- 

 stood they usually build 

 irregularly. 



Beeswax is secreted in 

 pockets on the ventral side 

 of the abdomen on the wax 

 plates (Fig. 53) situated 

 on the sternal plates of the 

 last four visible segments 

 of the abdomen. Each 

 segment bears two of these 

 plates, making eight in all. 



Fig. 56. — Side view of worker removing 

 wax-scale. Enlarged. 



' Dreyling, L., 1903. Ueber die wachsbereitenden Organe der Honig- 

 biene. Zool. Anz., XXVI. 



■, 1905. Die wachsbereitenden Organe bei den gesellig lebenden 



Bienen. Zool. Jahrbilcher, Abth. Anat. u. Ont. d. Theire, XXII. 



