The Life of the Bee 



slab of tin, on the spot whence I had 

 removed it ; so that, while one side of 

 the comb presented no abnormal feature, 

 the damage having been repaired, the 

 other displayed a sort of deep cavity, 

 covering the space of about thirty cells, 

 with the piece of tin as its base. The 

 bees were disconcerted at first; they 

 flocked in numbers to inspect and ex- 

 amine this curious chasm ; day after day 

 they wandered agitatedly to and fro, ap- 

 parently unable to form a decision. But, 

 as I fed them copiously every evening, 

 there came a moment when they had no 

 more cells available for the storage of 

 provisions. Thereupon they probably 

 summoned their great engineers, distin- 

 guished sculptors, and wax-workers, and 

 invited them to turn this useless cavity 

 to profitable account. 



The wax-makers having gathered around 

 and formed themselves into a dense fes- 



30I 



