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bees weigh exactly. “ I can tell you,” some one ex- 
claims, “I saw some weighed, — so many weigh just 
eight ounces.” Are you sure there was nothing but 
bees weighed? Was there no honey, bee-bread, faeces, 
or other substance, that might deceive you ? “ Can’t 
say; I never thought of that!” Now it is important, 
if we weigh bees to know their weight, to be sure 
we weigh nothing else. It is evident, that if five 
thousand weigh three pounds, when nothing is in their 
sacks, they would weigh, when filled with honey, 
several pounds more. Hence, the fallacy of judging 
of the size of a swarm by weight, as one swarm 
might issue with half the honey of another. Per- 
haps eight pounds, for large swarms, might be an av- 
erage for bees and honey. This honey, whatever it 
amounts to, cannot be stored till combs are construct- 
ed to hold it. This principle holds good till the hive 
is full. That is, whenever they have more honey than 
the combs will hold, if there is room in the hive, they 
construct more. But they seem to go no farther tfian 
this in comb-making. However large the swarm may 
be, this compulsion appears necessary to fill the hive. 
Drone-cells are seldom made in the top of the hive, 
but a part are generally joined on the worker-cells, 
a little distance from the top ; others near the bottom. 
There seems to be no rule about the number of such 
cells. Some hives will contain twice the number of 
others. It may depend on the yield of honey at the 
time; when very plenty, more drone-cells, &c. If the 
hive be very large, no doubt an unprofitable number 
would be constructed. Where the large and small 
