6 
Bulletin 54. 
The above table shows that the very heavy foundation gave a 
comb midrib weighing 5.90 grains more to the square inch than the 
midrib of natural comb. Medium brood foundation gave a midrib 
3.08 grains heavier to the square inch, or almost two and one-half 
times the weight of natural midrib. The lightest midribs were ob¬ 
tained by the use of extra thin and thin super foundations, aver¬ 
aging but .85 to .90 grains to the square inch more than natural 
midrib. 
The use of the “1898” deep-cell foundation manufactured by 
Mr. E. B. Weed gave rather surprising results. The midrib from 
the foundation, before it had been worked over by the bees, averaged 
but .40 grains to the square inch more than the natural midrib, 
while the midrib of comb built on this foundation weighed 1.34 
grains more. The midrib of this foundation was not uniform in 
thickness, in some places being thinner and in others thicker than 
in natural comb, as shown in Plate 4, Fig. d. Where the midrib 
was thick there was little or no thinning by the bees, but where it 
was very thin they reinforced the weak places by “plastering” on a 
quantity of wax. These thickened places are plainly shown at n, 
Fig. c, and at/ of the plate just mentioned ; and at b of Plate 1, and 
account for the increased weight of the comb midrib. Fig. /, just 
mentioned, is from one of the worst samples I have seen. Natural 
midrib is shown at e. 
The difference in weight between the heavier artificial founda¬ 
tions and the midribs of the comb built upon them is too great to 
result from the thinning of the short cell walls alone, and can only 
be accounted for on the supposition that the bees do remove wax 
from the midribs of these foundations. The examination under a 
microscope of any heavy foundation that the bees have just begun 
to work will show the marks of their mandibles in the wax. At 
first the wax is left very rough, as shown in Plate 1, Fig. y, consider¬ 
ably magnified. At h is shown the smooth bottoms of the finished 
cells on the same foundation, which was medium brood in both 
cases. 
To be convinced that heavy foundations have their midribs 
thinned, but not thinned to correspond with the midribs of natural 
comb, the reader has only to look at the figures in Plate 2. At a is 
shown a section of heavy foundation, and at b and g are shown mid¬ 
ribs of comb built on this foundation. The lower third of 
b is a midrib of natural comb built on the foundation. At c and 
the lower end of d are shown sections of the medium brood founda¬ 
tion, while the upper portion of d and all of e show to what extent 
the midrib of this foundation w r as thinned. Notice also in this con¬ 
nection, that the full thinning of both foundation and cell walls is 
accomplished while the walls are yet quite short. 
The fact that foundations are thinned w r as also shown by actual 
