The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1889-05-23

bee come out from among its companions
and settle on the top of the inside of
the hive, turning herselfround and round
80 as TO push the other bees back and to
make space in which she can work.
Then she will begin to pick at the under
part Of her body with her forelegs, and
will bring scale of wax from q curious
sort of pocket under her abdomen.
Holding this wax in her claws she will
bite it with her hard, pointed upper jaws,
which move to aud fro sideways like q
pair of pinchers, then, moiateningit with
her tongue into a kind of paste, she will
draw it out like ribbon and plaster it
on the top of the hive.
After that she will take another piece,
for she has eight of these little wax pock.
cts, and she will go on till they are all
exhausted. Then she will fly away out
of the hive, leaving small wax lump on
the hive ceiling or on the bar stretched
across it; then her placa will be taken by
another bee, who will go through the
same maueuvres. This bee will be fol-
lowed by another, and another, till q
large wall of wax has been built hanging
from the bar Of the hive, but it will not
yet have cells fashioned in it.
Meanwhile the bees which have been
gathering honey out of doors begin to
come back laden. But they cannot store
their honey, for there are no cells made
yet to put it in; neither can they build
combs with the rest, for they have no
wax in their wax pockets. So they just
so and hang quietly on to the other bees,
and there they remain for twenty.four
hours, during which time they digest the
honey they have gathered, and part of
it forms wax and oozes out from the
scales under their body. Then they are
prepared to join the others at work and
plaster wax on to the hive.
And now, as soon as rough lump OF
wax is ready, another set Of bees come to
do their work.. These are called the
nursing bees, because they prepare the
cells and feed the young ones. One of
these bees, standing on the roof of the
hive, begins to force her head into the
wax, biting with her jaws and moving
her head to and fro. Soon she has made
the beginning Of round hollow, and
then she passes on to make another,
while second bee takes her place and
enlarges the first one. Asmany as twen-
ty bees will be employed in this way, one
after another, upon each hole before it is
large enough for the base Of a cell.
Meanwhile another set of nursing bees
have been working just in the same way
on the other side ofthe wax, and so
series of hollows are made back to back
all over the comb. Then the bees form
the walls of the cells, and soon mum Der
of six. x.sided tubes about half an inch deep
stand all along each side of the comb
ready to receive honey or bee eggs.
The ends of these cells are 80 shaped
that, as they lie back, the bottom of one
cell fits into the space between the ends
of three cells meeting it from the oppo-
site side, while they fit into the spaces
around it. Upon this plan the clever
little bees fill every atom of space, use
the least possible quantity of wax,
and make the cells lie so closely together
that the whole comb is kept warm when
the young bees are in it.
There are some kinds of bees who do
not live in hives, but each one builds q
home of it's own. These bees-such as
Che upholsterer bee, which digs hole
i'm the earth and lines it with flowers and
leaves, and the mason bee, which builds
in walls-do not make six sided cells,
hut round ones, for room is no object to
them. !. But nature has gradually. taught
the5little hive beeto build its cells more
aud more closely, till they fit perfectly
within each other. fyou make mum.
ber Of round holes close together in q
soft substance, aud then squeeze the sub.
stance, evenly from all sides, the rounds
will gradually take six.sided form,
showing that this is the closest shape
into which they can be compressed.
Although the bee does not know this,
yet as she gnaws away every bit of wax
that can be spared she brings the hole
into this shape.
As soon as one comb is finished, the
bees begin another by the side of it leav-
ing narrow lane between, just broad
enough for two bees 70 pass back to back
as they crawl along, and so the work
goes on till the hive is full of combs.
A.s soon, however, as length OF ABOUT
five OF six inches of the first comb has
been made into cells, the bees which are
bringing home honey no longer hang to
make it into wax, but begin to store it
in the cells. We all know where the
bees go to fetch their honey, and how
when bee settles on flower, she thrusts
into it her small tongue.like proboscis,
which is really heightened under lip,
and sucks out the drop of honey. This
she swallows, passing it down her throat
into ahoney bag or first stomach, which
lies between her throat aud her real
stomach, and when she gets back to the
hive she can empty this bag and pass the
honey back through her mouth again
into tne honey cells.
But if you watch bees carefully, espe.
cially in the spring time, you will find
that they carry off something else besides
honey. Early in the morning, when the
dew is on the ground, or later in the day,
in moist, shady places, you may see a
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