2i8 THE LORE OF THE HONEY-BEE 



tried to get upon it, with their wax-hods filled and 

 ready, and each time failed : the ordinary way of 

 comb-building was clearly impossible. Then the 

 engineers of the hive, inspired by the difficulty, 

 got to work in another way. On the wooden sur- 

 face below they laid out the plan of a garner- 

 house, not after their usual method of parallel 

 combs, but a regular, oblong house, with cellular 

 storerooms, and communicating passages in be- 

 tween. Upon this they raised storey above storey 

 of horizontal cells, until the glass roof was nearly 

 reached. At this stage, apparently, the honey- 

 flow came to an end in the fields, for the cells 

 in the store-house were never sealed, though all 

 were nearly full of honey ; and later in the season 

 it was found and carried away by the bee-master, 

 who still preserves it as a curiosity. He bears a well- 

 known name,* and his testimony as to the making of 

 this unique little honey-house is beyond question ; 

 but, indeed, it carries in itself infallible evidence of 

 its authenticity. All honey-cells made by bees 

 have a slight upward inclination, which helps, as 

 has been already explained, to retain their con- 

 tents until they can be capped over. And every 

 cell in the storehouse clearly showed this upward 

 slant. 



* Dr. Herbert MacDonald Phillpotts, of Kingswear, 

 Devon. 



