WORKERS IN WAX.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 2988, 22 January 1881, Page 4

WORKERS IN WAX.

The worker bees are of two sorts and two sizes, the smaller ones living mostly at home and doing the housework, such as feeding the young, building cells, cleaning-up tho bivo, &c. Tbey mako very little of the wax used in making the comb, but tho greatest part is produced by the larger bees, which for this reason are called wax-makers, whilst the small bees are known as nursebees. The wax is secreted in the segments of the abdomen on tbe under part, in what are called wax-pockets, of which there are four on each side. When it is necessary to build new comb the bees partake of a hearty meal of honey, and then hang up in long clusters within the hive. The top line hang by their forelegs to the comb on top of the hive, the next below hang by the forelegs to the hind legs of those above, and so on until a complete curtain of bees is formed. In this position they hang quietly for about twentyfour hours, by which time the food has by some means become converted into wax, which is formed in the pockets before spoken of. At the end of that time a bee will be seen to defcachitself from the living curtain, and, proceeding to tho top, will clear a space or ring, and, suspending itself by the legs, takes a pellet of wax out of its pocket, and commences to chew it into fragments, which are caught in a kind of basket formed by the hairs of the mandibles. The chips are then worked by the tongue aud wetted with a kind of froth or saliva, after which the mass is again chewed, caught and wetted when it comes out as a long, thin, narrow ribbon. This is thon fixed to the roof of the hive, and another pellet is taken and subjected to the same treatment, and so on until tho whole lot has been worked up, af tor which she retires in favour of the next, Several bees follow each other, preparing the thin scales of wax in the same manner, and joining the ribands on to the previous layers, until there is a line or wall of wax, unevenly placed, descending perpendicularly from the dome of the hive for a distance of five or six lines in length half a line in thickness, and about two lines in height, having neither angles nor shape or sign of any cells. It would appear that the wax. makers cannot form cells, or if they can they adhere to their own office of waxrnaking, and leave the building work to the nurse-bees. One of the small bees now comes upon the scene. Previously they had taken no part in the work, but whilst the waxmakers were brooding over the preparation of the material the nurses were as busy as ever about the hive. Now, however, they seem to know that their services are required, so some of them leave the housework and begin to give a shape to the crude attempts at cell-making. One bee places itself with its head towards the centre of the line thus made, and with its mandibles quickly moulds that side into the shape of a cell; then another takes its place, and deepens the cavity, heaping up the wax on each side, and building the walls higher with the aid of its mandibles and feet. Others follow to the number of twenty to twenty-five, whilst the waxmakers keep coming up and supplying material for the building. Before the cell is completed another set of bees have commenced on the other side of the line ; thus they are making two cells at once. Before these two cells are commenced, until a whole line is in course of construction, when all hands are hard at work, either chewing and making, the wax ductile, or else building it up into cells. The cells in the middle of the court are always deeper than those at the edges, and this very greatly adds to their strength. If ibis necessary to make more store-room for honey the bees add to the rim of the cells, commencing in the middle and working to the outside. As soon as the central comb is fairly commenced the commence another on each side of it, v. ' ->n two more outside these. The and t_t_ Hrged or lengthened in procombs are eu... - that which was first portion to their ag b , -i n advance of the commenced being always "-t the comb rest, and so on. After startup -. qes j n becomes a little wider, but decr_„. -9 width after a certain distance till it com_» to the bottom. There is an evident design in this mode of procedure to strengthen the comb. Although a large number of bees are engaged in building the cell there is not one which completes its work right through, but it seems that each one has its appointed task—one to give tho cell a shape at the bottom, the next to raise it a little, another to reduce the wax to its proper thickness, and, finally, one to polish tho walls.