The Observation Bee Hive Invertebrates 
WHAT MAY BE SEEN IN THE OBSERVATION HIVE 
It is very interesting to watch the bees build their 
comb. When more comb is needed certain members 
of the colony gorge themselves with honey and remain 
suspended while it oozes out of the wax pockets on 
the lower side of the abdomen. This wax is collected 
and chewed to make it less brittle and then is carried 
to the place where the comb is being built and is 
molded into shape by the jaws of the workers. How- 
ever, the bee that puts the wax in place is not always 
the one that molds it into comb. 
A bee comes into the live with her honey stomach 
filled with nectar and disgorges this into a cell. 
When a bee comes in loaded with pollen, she first 
brushes it from the pollen baskets on her hind legs 
into the cell; later another worker comes along and 
packs the pollen grains into the cell with her head, 
which is a comical sight. 
The bee nurses run about on the comb feeding the 
young bee grubs partially digested honey and pollen 
regurgitated from their own stomachs. Whenever 
the queen moves about on the comb she is followed 
by a retinue of devoted attendants which feed her on 
the rich and perfectly digested royal jelly and also 
take care of her royal person and give her every atten- 
tion possible. The queen, when laying, thrusts her 
abdomen into the cell and glues a little white egg to 
the bottom. The specially interesting thing about 
this is that the queen always lays an egg that will 
produce a female, or worker in the smaller cells and 
will always lay an egg to produce a drone or male in 
the larger cells. 
If there is any foreign substance in the observation 
hive it is interesting to see the bees go to work at 
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