HABITATIONS OF INSECTS. 493 



mur% is doubtless to give it that ductility and tenacity, 

 which it possesses in its perfect state. 



The foundress-bee, a name which this first beginner 

 of a comb deserves, next applies these prepared parcels 

 of wax against the vault of the hive, disposing them with 

 the point of her mandibles in the direction which she 

 wishes them to take : and she continues these manoeuvres 

 until she has employed the whole lamina that she had 

 separated from her body, when she takes a second, pro- 

 ceeding in the same manner. She gives herself no care 

 to compress the molecules of wax which she has heaped 

 together ; she is satisfied if they adhere to each other. 

 At length she leaves her work, and is lost in the crowd 

 of her companions. Another succeeds, and resumes the 

 employment ; then a third ; all follow the same plan of 

 placing their little masses ; and if any by chance gives 

 them a contrary direction, another coming removes them 

 to their proper place. The result of all these operations 

 is a mass or little wall of wax with uneven surfaces, five 

 or six lines long, two lines high, and half a line thick, 

 which descends perpendicularly below the vault of the 

 hive. In this first work is no angle nor any trace of the 

 figure of the cells. It is a simple partition in a right 

 line without any inflection. 



The wax-makers having thus laid the foundation of a 

 comb, are succeeded by the nurse-bees, which are alone 

 competent to model and perfect the work. The former 

 are the labourers, who convey the stone and mortar ; the 

 latter the masons, who work them up into the form which 

 the intended structure requires. One of the nurse-bees 

 a Reaum. v- 424, 



