80 HUMBLE CREATURES. 



of a thin nairow ribbon by repeated workings with 

 her feet^ jaws, and dehcate tongue. The particles of 

 wax thus obtained she attaches to the vault of the 

 hivCj and then proceeds at once to fabricate and 

 apply a second and third, and so on (adjusting them 

 in the direction the comb is to take), until aU her 

 wax is exhausted, when she disappears and makes 

 way for a second labourer. The repetition of this 

 operation by one Bee after another gradually forms 

 " a Httle wall of wax with uneven surfaces, five or six 

 inches long, two Knes high, and half a line thick, 

 which descends perpendicularly below the vault of 

 the hive *." This done, the operations of the nurse- 

 bees begia, the wax-makers leaving to them the task 

 of completing the construction of the comb. They at 

 once proceed to excavate the ceUs on both sides of the 

 wall, drawing outf the wax in the required direction, 

 so that one partition serves as the base of two cells. 



Meanwhile the wax-makers continue to elaborate 

 that material, and add to the foundation- wall, leaving 

 their comrades to design and construct the cells ; 

 until the comb, which consists of a double series of 

 hexagonal cells, placed, as it were, back to back, is 

 completed. 



We are now considering what was until recently 

 regarded as the most wonderful trait in the nature of 



* The operation is described with great minuteness in 

 Kirby and Spence, p. 277 ; partly extracted from RiSaumur, 

 V. 424. See also note on page 86 of tbis work. 



t Or, according to some observers, huilding up tbe walls 

 witb the excavated wax. 



