A DILIGENT WORKER 
11 
hand, in the open air, attached tq a branch. The swarm stays on the 
outside of the comb, making it appear black. In America we know 
the bee mostly as a tamed insect, producing food for man, and it' is of 
this that I wish to tell you most. 
It was early summer, and a new family of bees with the queen, 
their mother, had recently come to an old empty hive in the garden. 
They immediately set to work, some to clearing the dirt-particles 
from the hive, and some; to laying the foundation for their new 
home. 
Were we able to watch such an operation, we should find it very 
interesting. A number of the bees hang themselves from the top of 
the hive. The first ones cling to the roof with their forelegs, and the 
others hang with their forelegs hooked to the hind legs of the bees 
above them. In this way, for a day and a half, they hang like a thick 
black curtain. 
Rut before bees leave their first home, they eat their fill of honey, 
and, while hanging, they change this honey into a wax. Just how* bees 
do this, no one knows* but the wax appears in little scales between the 
horny rings of their bodies. These the bee moistens and kneads with 
its tongue and pincers until a gluey substance is formed. 
Then a bee from* the center of the cluster crawls to the top of the 
hive and deposits and fastens his little budget of wax. This is the 
foundation-stone of the new home. Other bees do likewise, until a 
sufficient foundation for the new comb has been completed. 
Now comes an architect. He examines the foundation carefully 
and with his antennae pats it down here and there. When all is ad¬ 
justed to suit him, he bores a hole in the center. This is the beginning 
of the first cell. The cells are six-sided little rooms and so marvel¬ 
ously made that no man lias been able to equal them. So diligently do 
these little creatures work that it does not take long for them to con¬ 
struct a comb of considerable size. Then real housekeeping begins. 
The queen-mother, who has been restless during this time, sets 
about her work of egg-laying. It is said she lays as many as three 
thousand eggs a day." As she goes from one cell to another depositing 
the tiny bluish-white eggs, she is attended by ten or fifteen maids of 
honor. They caress her with their antennae, and, when she will take it, 
they feed her upon choice honey and bee-bread. . 
The bee family shows much love to their queen-mother. If famine 
