r 
34 
skins or membranes are connected by a delicate mem- 
brane with the next segment, and the wax-skin itself is 
drawn back under the hard outer skin, so that the 
superfices form six pair of pockets into which the wax 
substance penetrates through the wax-skin or membrane 
and receives the shape and size of the respective super- 
fices. 
As soon as the secretion of wax has commenced, the 
bees at once begin to use the wax-scales for the con- 
struction of comb. This comb-building has its begin- 
ning at the highest point of the hive accessible to the 
bees and the centre of their cluster. In the act of 
building the comb, each of these flakes or scales is 
grasped by a pincer formed at one of the joints of the 
leg and conveyed to the mouth of the insect where it is 
reduced by the mandibles and proboscis to a softened 
condition previous to being added to the wall of the 
cell; and more than this, the hexagonal form of the 
cell is simply that naturally assumed by cylinders of soft 
material subjected to equal and uniform pressure from 
each other, the length and proportions of the antennae 
enabling the bee to built the walls in the first place in 
the form that they would necessarily assume under such 
pressure ; yet, at the same time, in building the cell of 
the queen where the hexagonal shape is not necessitated, 
they may be used in making such cells of circular form. 
The wax has thus been traced from its origin to its de- 
position in the walls of the cells, and these facts, 
