The Life of the Bee 
from the mass, her physical appearance 
differing appreciably from that of the 
foundresses who preceded her. And her 
manner displays such settled conviction, 
her movements are followed so eagerly by 
all the crowd, that we almost might fancy 
that some illustrious engineer had been 
summoned to trace in the void the site of 
the first cell of all, from which every other 
must mathematically depend. This bee 
belongs to the sculptor or carver class 
of workers; she produces no wax her- 
self and is content to deal with the 
materials others provide. She locates the 
first cell, scoops into the block for an in- 
stant, lays the wax she has removed from 
the cavity on the borders around it; and 
then, like the foundresses, abruptly de- 
parts and abandons her model. Her 
place is taken at once by an impatient 
worker, who continues the task that a 
third will finish, while others close by are 
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