HIVES FOR BEE-KEEPERS. 
41 
a way as to give the whole structure considerable 
rigidity. 
Combs are started from the upper part of the 
domicile — e.g.^ from the roof of the skep, or box hive 
— those consisting of worker cells only, normally 
having their midribs rather less than i-jin. apart. 
The brood comb being scarcely lin. in thickness, 
an interspace of nearly iin. remains, which gives 
the bees manning the comb on both its faces 
room to pass each other without molestation, as 
a worker can squeeze through -g^in., and projects 
about -^in. from the surface on which it is placed ; 
while the stature of the drone is about Jin. The 
“ bee - space,’^ as it is termed, is much lessened 
between the faces of contiguous combs devoted to 
honey, as here only room for the passage of a 
single bee is left. The honey is normally stored 
above {h, A), and at the sides (i-c, B), where the combs 
are thickened as a result of what has been already 
advanced ; but the reduced passage-way is preserved, 
and they are only very slightly, if at all, attached to 
each other. 
The two laws already referred to may be briefly 
expressed. First ; Bees invariably preserve spaces 
around the lower parts of the ends, and beneath 
the combs {bs, A, Fig. 7), making any one imme- 
diately reachable from any part of the floor board, 
and capable of being ventilated from the hive 
door. Secondly : Openings between ^in. and -Jin. 
in least diameter, of every shape, and wherever 
placed, with the single exception of the upper part of 
the comb, are never closed, but are used as passages : 
