158 AUSTRALASIAN 
CUeWwle tla Je WO, 
COMB FOUNDATION. 
THE third great improvement introduced of late years, taking 
rank only after the inventions of the movable frame-hive and 
the honey-extractor, is that of furnishing the bees with the 
foundation or septum of the combs which we wish them to 
build. By this means we are now enabled to dictate to the 
busy little workers exactly where a comb is to be built, and 
whether it shall contain worker or drone cells ; to secure its 
Fig. 74.-_COMB FOUNDATION. 
being built quite straight, and with an even surface ; and to 
save the bees a great deal of time in the secretion of wax 
just at the period when their labour can be best employed in 
the storing of honey. 
HISTORY OF THE INVENTION. 
There would be no use in fitting up a hive with movable 
bars or frames, unless we could secure the building of the 
combs along the line of the bars or within the frames. The 
bees, if left to themselves, would be just as likely to build 
their combs across such lines, connecting all the bars or frames 
together, and thus rendering them quite useless. It was 
