492 HABITATIONS OF INSECTS. 



its companions to the middle of the vault or top of the 

 hive, and by turning itself round to form a kind of void, 

 it which it can move itself freely. It then suspends itself 

 to the centre of the space which it has cleared, the dia- 

 meter of which is about an inch. It next seizes one of 

 the laminae of wax with a pincer formed by the posterior 

 metatarsus and tibia % and drawing it from beneath the 

 abdominal segment, one of the anterior legs takes it with 

 its claws and carries it to the mouth. This leg holds 

 the lamina with its claws vertically, the tongue rolled up 

 serving for a support, and by elevating or depressing it 

 at will, causes the whole of its circumference to be ex- 

 posed to the action of the mandibles, so that the margin 

 is soon gnawed into pieces, which drop as they are de- 

 tached into the double cavity, bordered with hairs, of the 

 mandibles. These fragments, pressed by others newiy 

 separated, fall on one side of the mouth, and issue from 

 it in the form of a very narrow ribband. They are then 

 presented to the tongue, which impregnates them with a 

 frothy liquor like a bouillie. During this operation the 

 tongue assumes all sorts of forms ; sometimes it is flat- 

 tened like a spatula ; then like a trowel, which applies 

 itself to the ribband of wax ; at other times it resembles 

 a pencil terminating in a point. After having moistened 

 the whole of the ribband, the tongue pushes it so as to 

 make it re-enter the mandibles, but in an opposite di- 

 rection, where it is worked up anew. The liquor mixed 

 with the wax communicates to it a whiteness and opacity 

 which it had not before ; and the object of this mixture 

 of bouillie, which did not escape the observation of Reau- 

 * Vide Moth 4 p. Aug. t. 12. * * e. 1. neut. fig. 19, 



