Life History and Structure of the Bee. 19 



this desire to swarm, the chief of which is giving the 

 bees plenty of room in advance of their requirements 

 and giving them ventilation. 



There are several other kinds of bees, and a remark- 

 able one in Mexico, which is stingless ; but taking 

 everything into consideration, the writer is strongly 

 of the opinion that a good strong stock of English 

 bees is the best kind of bee for an Englishman. 



The construction of the comb is very wonderful. 

 Comb is made of wax, and the latter oozes from 



Fig. 2. 



the body of the bee. If a swarm of bees was put 

 into a skep or empty box and the bees could be 

 seen, they would be found to be hanging in festoons 

 very close together. This produces a great deal of 

 heat in the hive, and causes the wax, which is the 

 fat of the bee, to ooze from the body of the bee in 

 very small scales. The bees- — the workers, of course 

 — take these little pieces and form them into what 

 we call comb, with hexagonal cells (fig. 2). This 

 shows the wonderful instinct of the bee. If the cells 

 were circular, much room would be wasted ; but being 



