The Worker 145 



untrammelled by rules, and with no set task, laboring at 

 the general plan, storing a load in an empty cell, giving 

 here and there a creating touch to the waxen fabric. 



No bee works for itself, no bee takes pride in its indi- 

 vidual well-built cell. The multitude works as though it 

 were one bee, and the joy of each is in the perfection of 

 the whole. 



When the cells are finished and are nearly full of honey 

 they are allowed to remain open for a few days that the 

 extra water may evaporate and the honey be properly 

 cured. They are then sealed or capped over with wax and 

 the work is done. 



Honey-comb cells are not mathematically regular in size 

 or shape, as was formerly believed, but vary a great deal in 

 different combs. 



The old belief that honey-comb cells were perfectly 

 uniform in size led some enterprising spirits to suggest 

 them as convenient standards of measurement, but experi- 

 ment showed such great diversity that they were forced to 

 content themselves with the earth's meridian, which, though 

 less convenient, is less variable. 



Variation in size and shape of cells is universal ; not 

 only are the worker always smaller than the drone cells but 

 those between the two are graduated from the smaller to 

 the larger while the honey-comb cells often differ in size 

 and shape. Often irregular cells are built in to fill an un- 

 occupied space and queen cells show very great irregularity 

 of form, size, and position, having been found on almost all 

 parts of the comb, though as a rule they are built on the 

 edges out of the way. 



The queen cells have much thicker walls than the other 

 cells and are built of odds and ends of wax, often chippings 

 from an old comb, so that they are seldom clean and beau- 

 tiful like the other cells. 



