333 



FOURTEENTH CHAPTER. 



ON THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE COMBS. 



THE CONSTRUCTION OP THE COMBS THE FIRST ACT OF A SWARM — PROPOL IS 

 AND WAX THE SAME SUBSTANCES COMMOSIS AND P1SSOCEROS, TWO SUB- 

 STANCES IN A I-IIVE MENTIONED BY PLINY BEES ONf LEAVING THE 



HIVE PREPARED WITH THE MEANS FOR THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE 

 COMBS— THE COMBS ALWAYS BEGUN AT THE TOP OF THE HIVE — DESCRIP- 

 TION OF THE FORMATION OF A CELL GIVEN BY HUBER — ITS FALSITY 



THE OVARIUM OF THE QUEEN BEE ON LEAVING THE HIVE FULL OF EGGS 

 — PERFECTION OF THE ARCHITECTURE OF THE BEES — BEAUTIFUL CON- 

 STRUCTION OF A CELL THE COMB COMPOSED OF A DOUBLE ROW OF CELLS 



— THE CELL OF THE COMMON BEE A PERFECT HEXA'jON — MATHEMATICAL 

 ANALYSIS BY SAMUEL KOENIG — VARIETY IN THE THICKNESS OF THE 

 COMBS — DESCRIPTION OF THE &UEEN CELL — WEIGHT OF THE Q.UEEN 

 CELL COMPARED WITH THAT OF THE COMMON BEES — REPRESENTATION 



OF THE CELLS OF THE COMMON BEE, THE DRONE, AND THE Q.UEEN 



LATREILLE ON THE STRUCTURE OF A COMB — COMBS WHEN FIRST MADE 

 ARE WHITE — VICINITY OF MANUFACTURING TOWNS INJURIOUS TO THE 

 COLOUR OF THE COMBS — THE WHITEST COMBS MADE ACCORDING TO 

 L'ABBE DELLA ROCCA, FROM THE FARINA OF THYME — FALSITY OF THE 

 STATEMENT. 



The first act of a swarm on taking possession of its habita- 

 tion is the construction of the combs for the reception of 

 the eggs of the queen, and their future provisions. It 

 has been hitherto the generally received opinion that the 

 bees employ a different substance than wax for the founda- 

 tion of their combs, to which the name of propolis* has been 

 given, and we confess that we were originally inclined to 

 adhere to the opinion that propolis and wax were substances 

 differing in their nature and composition. Subsequent 

 researches, however, have induced us to dissent from that 

 opinion, and to consider propolis as nothing more than wax, 

 only in a more rough and less elaborated state. It is, how- 

 ever, mentioned in the writings of the ancient naturalists, 

 particularly Pliny, that the bees cover the place on which 

 they begin to construct their combs, with a substance which 



* See Chapter XX. on the nature of Propolis. 



