H Y MEN OP TERA . 67 J 



like mass, the upper bees clinging to the roof of the hive, 

 and the lower ones to the bees above them. After about 

 twenty-four hours there appears on the lower surface of the 

 abdomen of each bee little plates of wax that are forced out 

 from openings between the ventrai abdominal segments 

 called wax-pockets. Other workers attend to this curtain 

 and collect the wax as fast as it appears, and use it at once in 

 constructing comb. As it requires about twenty-one pounds 

 of honey to make one pound of wax, the bees, who are true 

 economists, make this expensive product go as far as possi- 

 ble. The hexagonal cells of the honeycomb afford an 

 ideally compact arrangement, as if the bees were mathema- 

 ticians and had fully planned to secure the most room in the 

 least space. The cells of the combs are used both for 

 rearing the young and for storing food. 



Propolis is a cement used for cementing up crevices, and 

 is made of a resin which the bees collect from the buds of 

 various trees, but especially the poplar. 



Honey is made from the nectar of flowers and is taken 

 into the honey stomach of the bee, and there changed into 

 honey, and then regurgitated into the cells of the comb. 



Bee-bread is made from the pollen of flowers, which the 

 bees bring in on the plates fringed with hairs on the hind 

 legs. 



There is a large literature concerning the intelligence of 

 bees, but those who love to see rather than merely to think 

 about interesting things will find keenest pleasure in intimate 

 associations with these little communists. One soon learns 

 to love them ; and the reward of studying them sympathet- 

 ically is a satisfaction to the mind far beyond the sweetness 

 of honey to the palate. 



