40 THE BUILDING OF THE CITY 



complete its combs in a week or so, while, if the 

 swarm is a late one and the weather cold and wet, 

 it may take several weeks, and sometimes work 

 is by no means completed when winter comes. 

 Such a calamity is usually fatal to the colony, for, 

 not only are there very few young bees to live 

 through the winter, but the shortage of stores 

 makes starvation the almost certain end. A weak 

 colony consumes, proportionately, much morefood 

 in the winter than a strong one, on account of the 

 difficulty of maintaining a proper rate of tempera- 

 ture. 



As soon as things have progressed sufficiently 

 to make it worth while, a guard is posted at the 

 entrance to keep out marauders, and the regular 

 routine work goes on as it did in the old hive. 

 Something concerning this routine we leave for 

 another chapter. 



