The Worker 141 



home comes under the process of conversion, and the wax 

 distils copiously on to the surface of the thin membrane in 

 the pockets. . . . 



" The wax having been secreted a single bee starts the 

 first comb, by attaching to the roof little masses of the 

 plastic material, into which her scales are converted by 

 prolonged chewing with secretion ; others follow her exam- 

 ple, and the process of scooping and thinning commence, 

 the parts removed being always added to the edge of the 

 work, so that, in the darkness, and between the bees, grows 

 downward that wonderful combination of lightness and 

 strength, grace and utility, which has so long provoked the 

 wonder and awakened the speculation of the philosopher, 

 the naturalist and the mathematician." 



When the comb is fairly started and the first urgent 

 necessity — that of supplying cells for the eggs — is over, 

 some of the bees hasten to the fields for honey and pollen, 

 and only a portion concern themselves with further comb 

 building. 



It would seem that the production of wax is at least in 

 part under the control of the bee, as in hives where arti- 

 ficial comb -^ is supplied the bees have been known not to 

 secrete any wax, while on the other hand, during the 

 height of the honey flow, in the hives where the bees build 

 their own comb every worker bee in the colony seems to 

 be supplied with wax scales, though these are not so 

 abundant in the active bees as in those keeping still for 

 the purpose, nor in the old foragers as in the young in- 

 door bees. 



Although it requires from ten to sixteen pounds of honey 

 to produce one of wax, such is the amazing economy 

 exercised in the use of this precious material that one 



1 " Artificial comb" explained later — it is made of bee's wax — 

 only the form, not the substance being artificially made. 



