THE LIVING WORLD. 
2 73 
but by the unfertilized queen bees, or by the workers. The wax-workers and 
the nurses are the two divisions of the working bee. The former is the 
builder and architect, as well as the one who provides honey for the honeycomb; 
honey thus stored up is not touched by the bees themselves, other receivers 
being provided for the supplies required for daily consumption. The wax-cells 
lie in a second stomach, which is never used for digestion. In the same 
manner as the various elements of human food are directed to the tissues, bones, 
muscles, etc., materials of which the bee can manufacture wax are separated and 
carried to the second stomach. It would be superfluous to dwell upon the sound 
mathematical and architectural princi¬ 
ples recognized in the construction 
of the comb and cells ; this wonder 
of the natural world has already been 
described at length by naturalists, 
moralists, and essay-writers. It sup¬ 
plies likewise a viscous, resinous, 
thread-like cement, which it employs 
mainly as the mason employs mor¬ 
tar ; but he also converts it into 
ropes, by which it may remove in¬ 
truding insects or troublesome sub¬ 
stances, and, as in the case of snails, 
uses it to safely tie an animal which 
it cannot remove; in the last case 
they embalm the corpse, not for the 
reason of the ancient Egyptians, but 
that its putrefaction may not embar¬ 
rass themselves. 
The form, color, scent and suc¬ 
culence of flowers is due entirely to 
the agency of insects ; without these 
workers, among whom the bee is 
chief, we should lose the delights 
furnished by plant life—the coloring, 
varied in hue and infinite in tone— 
the graceful and odd-shaped forms— 
the grateful perfume—the iridescence 
which represents the imprisoned sun¬ 
shine. The gum, out of which the bee 
makes its cement, is collected and 
carried in basket-like hollows in the 
middle of the hind legs. When a 
hive is about to be built, the bees . 
divide into sets of workers, whose labor is not shared by the other sets. Une 
body confines itself to the production of materials ; another works out the build¬ 
ing plan in the rough ; another examines, improves and perfects the structure. 
All the while another band is occupied in bringing provisions to the laborers, 
though they exclude such as, having their field of labor abroad, can forage tor 
themselves. The wax-workers suspend themselves in clusters, the lower ones 
18 
DWELLINGS OF THE GRASS ANT. 
