The Colony and its Organization 
51 
these are the honey stores, chiefly to the back of the nest. 
Drone cells are most often found in the lower corners of 
combs. This typical plan may be variously modified if the 
nest is of peculiar shape. 
In natural comb-building, bees build for the immediate 
present, with no evidence of a plan for the needs of the future. 
When comb-building begins, worker cells are built so long as 
the queen continues promptly to lay eggs in the new cells. 
A queenless colony builds storage cells (drone-cell size). If 
the colony is rather weak and can care for only a little brood, 
the bees soon begin to build storage cells and this also occurs 
if the queen is a poor layer. In a nucleus, however, only 
worker cells are built. If nectar is coming in abundantly 
they construct storage cells. It may thus happen that some 
of the combs near the center of the brood nest contain a 
superabundance of cells suitable only for the rearing of drones 
or for the storage of honey, and this condition remains in 
future years, regardless of the best interests of the colony. 
Color of the combs. 
When first built, combs are light yellow or almost white 
in color, 1 but after brood is reared in the cells the comb is 
darkened by the “cocoons” left by the brood. These so- 
called cocoons consist of larval skins and excreta, with the 
possible addition of a portion of the delicate silken cocoon 
(p. 101). These deposits increase with successive roarings of 
brood until the bases of the cells are appreciably thickened 
while the outer parts of the side walls remain practically 
unmodified in size. If an old comb is soaked in water the 
layers of deposits may be readily separated. The combs 
are also darkened by deposits of propolis on the cappings of 
honey cells and the tops of combs are often strengthened by 
deposits of this substance, especially when the combs are 
attached to rough wood, as in a hollow log. 
1 The color varies with the sources of honey and pollen at the time the 
comb is being built. This fact is not yet satisfactorily explained. It is 
also known that waxes vary similarly in certain physical properties. 
