146 The Honey-Makers 



The wonderful regularity of honey-comb is a beautiful 

 tribute to the skill of the tiny workers, while its slight but 

 universal irregularities show it to be the work of intelligence 

 rather than of an unreasoning machine. 



The length of the cells differs far more than the diameter. 

 The depth of brood cells is quite uniform, for it would 

 not do to take many liberties with the cradle of the bee, 

 but the honey cells are sometimes built out until they are 

 two or even three times the length of the brood cells, form- 

 ing long curved galleries. Where the space between the 

 combs is great the cells are very apt to be built out, making 

 their surfaces irregular and the honey difficult to handle. 

 Even in the boxes arranged for the bees to build in, in 

 the modern hives, the honey-comb is sometimes built out 

 beyond the wooden edge of the box, so that it cannot be 

 transported safely. 



Bees generally hang their combs parallel to each other, 

 but they do not so generally hang the whole mass parallel 

 to the side of their hive if left to their own devices. In 

 fact they seem to prefer combs placed diagonally, and will 

 even fasten one comb to another in such a way that it is 

 impossible to remove the combs unbroken. 



Bee-keepers take the liberty of interfering with comb- 

 building in these days and by suspending frames in the 

 hive compel the bees to build their combs parallel to the 

 side of the hive and to each other. These frames often 

 contain a sheet of wax known as " foundation," and this is 

 frequently stamped by machinery to represent the bases of 

 the cells. The bees accept this assistance in good part, 

 and falling upon the sheet of wax draw it out into cells, 

 without attempting to change its position. Even a small 

 piece of foundation hung in a frame will often serve to start 

 them in a given direction. 



More than this, men having observed that bees eagerly 



