Wasps, Bees, and Ants 
5 2 7 
sometimes chewed and mixed with some saliva, and carried to the seat of 
the comb-building operation. Here the wax is pressed against the frame roof 
(or artificial foundation) and by means of the trowel-like mandibles moulded 
into the familiar hexagonal cells; each comb being composed of a double 
Fig. 731.—Ventral aspect of abdomen of worker honey-bee, showing wax-plates. (Three 
times natural size.) 
Fig. 732.—Wax-plate from ventral aspect of abdomen of honey-bee. (Much enlarged.) 
layer of these cells, a common partition serving as base or bottom of each 
tier. Although most bee books speak rather glibly of the comb-building 
operations, it is still undetermined whether the wax-producers leave the cur¬ 
tain and carry their own wax to the new comb and help mould it, or whether 
Fig. 733.—Honey-bees building comb. (After Benton.) 
the scales are taken away by other (building) workers, or whether they are 
nipped off with the wax-shears (Fig. 734) of the hind legs, and if so, whether 
by the wax-maker or a helper or builder, or whether they fall off to the bot- 
