The Life of the Bee 
[51] 
To follow the various phases of the 
secretion and employment of wax by a 
swarm that is beginning to build, is a 
matter of very great difficulty. All comes 
to pass in the blackest depths of the 
crowd, whose agglomeration, growing 
denser and denser, produces the tem- 
verature needful for this exudation, which 
is the privilege of the youngest bees. 
Huber, who was the first to study these 
phenomena, bringing incredible patience 
to bear and exposing himself at times to 
very serious danger, devotes to them 
more. than two hundred and fifty pages ; 
which, though of considerable interest, 
are necessarily somewhat confused. But 
I am not treating this subject technically ; 
and while referring when necessary to 
Huber’s admirable studies, I shall con- 
fine myself generally to relating what is 
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