DIVISION OF LABOK. 
59 
rest, but in fact secreting the wax which becomes 
visible on the rings of their bodies. In the above 
figure may be seen this curious spectacle. 
At length a single bee leaves one of the cen- 
tral festoons of the cluster, clears herself a space, 
goes to work alone, gathers the wax from her 
body, kneads and deposits the little particle, thus 
laying the foundation of the waxen city ; then 
retiring, a second bee imitates her example ; 
then another and another, until a block of wax 
is formed at the top of the hive. This pro- 
Worker Bco laying the foundation of a comb in the top of a glass hive. 
cess is exceedingly interesting, and shows the 
perfect adaptation of the organism of the bee to 
its labors. Provided with pincers at the joint 
of the third pair of legs, it seizes with them a 
scale of wiix, brings it forward to its mouth, by 
which it is broken and kneaded, and, by means 
of a frothy liquid from the tongue, comes out 
in the form of a narrow ribbon. Sometimes the 
