THE ECONOMY OF THE HIVE 21 



This is why, in old-established colonies of bees, 

 such enormous stores of honey are sometimes 

 found. The stronger the colony, the more 

 stores will it gather in the short period of the 

 honeyflow. If the surplus over and above the 

 twenty pounds or so required to keep the colony 

 going through the winter is not removed, as it 

 would be in the case of a domesticated hive, it 

 accumulates year by year, until, in fact, the whole 

 available space is full. 



I have known cases where bees have ensconced 

 themselves in various parts of a building — between 

 the floor and the ceiling, or between the ceiling 

 and the outer roof. I knew one old lath-and- 

 plaster house where, during the summer, the walls 

 hummed to such an extent that at last a bee- 

 master was sent for. The outer plaster was 

 removed, and the space between the inner and 

 outer skins of the wall was full of comb in lengths 

 of over six feet, and the honey weighed more than 

 two hundredweight. 



This honey-storing habit opens up one of the 

 most interesting problems of evolution. We have 

 seen that other species of bees, such as the bumble- 

 bee, although they live socially, do not form 

 permanent colonies. Their families are started 

 by a female in the spring. This female was 

 fertilised in the preceding autumn, and she starts 

 right away to prepare a nest and bring in the food 

 for the young grubs so soon as they commence to 



