CONSTRUCTION OF CELLS. 391 



astound the uninitiated, and impress them with an astonish- 

 ing notion of the magical talent of Mr. Huber, who gives us 

 an ocular description of things, which he positively and truly 

 asserts are concealed from his view. 



The architecture of the bees is always carried on in darkness, 

 and is always concealed from our view, and yet, says Huber, 

 quoting his own words, I saw a bee come out from the 

 middle of the group, and clearing away a space about an 

 inch round at the top of the hive, applied the pincers of one 

 of its legs to its side, took off a scale of wax, and began to 

 mince it with its tongue (the English bees have not any 

 tongue), which sometimes appeared like a bricklayer's trowel; 

 then it was flattened like a spatula ; then it looked like a 

 broad-bladed knife, and at another time it appeared to end in 

 a point like a pencil. 



The scale of wax, continues Huber, according to what 

 from his own affirmation was concealed from his view, being 

 detached from the side of the bee, became glutinous, and was 

 drawn out like a riband. The bee, which had so detached 

 the scale, is, by Huber, significantly styled " the founder," 

 who having put all the wax it could make to the vault of the 

 hive, very sedately took its departure ; a second did the like ; 

 but the third, what did the third do ? Huber, who knew all 

 about the business, although it was concealed from him by 

 darkness, discovered that the third bee was a consummate 

 blunderer, some raw apprentice in the art of cell making, 

 for he put his wax in a wrong line ; on which another bee, 

 more deeply skilled, shoved the blunderer most uncourte- 

 ously on one side, removed the wax, which had been so im- 

 properly placed, and carrying it to the former heap, placed 

 it exactly in the order and direction pointed out by " the 

 founder ;" the result of which was a little block of wax, 

 which was fixed to the vault of the hive, running in a straight 

 line, with a rough surface, but round on its edges, half an inch 

 long, sixth of an inch high, and about the twenty-fourth part of 



