riAT^ia; 
H YMENOP TER A. 
677 
like mass, the upper bees clinging to the roof of the hive, 
and the lower ones to the bees above them. After about 
twenty-four hours there appears on the lower surface of the 
abdomen of each bee little plates of wax that are forced out 
from openings between the ventral abdominal segments 
called wax-pockets. Other workers attend to this curtain 
and collect the wax as fast as it appears, and use it at once in 
constructing comb. As it requires about twenty-one pounds 
of honey to make one pound of wax, the bees, who are true 
economists, make this expensive product go as far as possi¬ 
ble. The hexagonal cells of the honeycomb afford an 
ideally compact arrangement, as if the bees were mathema¬ 
ticians and had fully planned to secure the most room in the 
least space. The cells of the combs are used both for 
rearing the young and for storing food. 
Propolis is a cement used for cementing up crevices, and 
is made of a resin which the bees collect from the buds of 
various trees, but especially the poplar. 
Honey is made from the nectar of flowers and is taken 
into the honey stomach of the bee, and there changed into 
honey, and then regurgitated into the cells of the comb. 
Bee-bread is made from the pollen of flowers, which the 
bees bring in on the plates fringed with hairs on the hind 
legs. 
There is a large literature concerning the intelligence of 
bees, but those who love to see rather than merely to think 
about interesting things will find keenest pleasure in intimate 
associations with these little communists. One soon learns 
to love them; and the reward of studying them sympathet¬ 
ically is a satisfaction to the mind far beyond the sweetness 
of honey to the palate. 
