HIVES FOR BEES. 
31 
which a Civil Servant, bearing G.P.O. on his collar, 
in defiance of general orders, requested me, with 
many apologies, to kindly make the collection. 
We shall gain much every way by studying the 
reason an external cover augments the results of 
bee labours, and assists in the propagation of the 
species. Let us suppose an absconding swarm to 
remain unobserved in a bush ; the bees gather into 
a compact mass, those on the outside {wb^ A, Fig. 4) 
clinging closely together, and protecting those [bb) 
within, where a high temperature must be maintained 
if wax is to be secreted (Vol. I., page 160). They 
would, theoretically^ assume a form circular in cross 
section ; for, imagine the disposition of the sustaining 
twigs to be such that a triangular outline (B) is 
induced, then the bees at the angular point e would 
straggle away to d at the centre of the side, to be 
more closely identified with the rest, and this would 
continue until the triangle had become a circle. We 
see the same thing in a street crowd, which naturally 
takes the round form, because those standing at any 
angle change to a spot where a better view of the 
centre may be obtained. The instinct just referred 
to — the clinging of the bees to each other, and 
gravity stretching them downwards — disposes them in 
the form of an inverted cone, closed on all sides by 
serried, clinging ranks, except at the point where a 
small opening is left for the exit and entrance of the 
interior insects. Cutting the cone now horizontally, 
we should find the bees within somewhat loose, and 
disposed in festoons as a preparative for comb-build- 
ing ; while the outside bees, forming a protecting 
