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THE EVOLUTION OF THE BEE AND THE BEEHIVE

more space with the use of less material than a structure of any other shape. There are about 9,000 cells in a square foot of honeycomb. The cells are nearly all of the same size and serve as the homes of the workers. Somewhat larger cells house the

Fig. 5.—Under surface of a worker bee, showing the hind legs pushing out from a pocket a flake of wax, which will be passed forward to the mouth and kneaded into the cell of the comb. (After Casteel.)

Fig. 6.—Two neighbouring combs of a honey-bee’s hive, showing the shape of the ends of the cells and the space between adjacent combs, which is just wide enough to allow two bees to pass. At the top, where there is no need for bees to pass, are the larger cells in which honey is stored.

drones, and other deeper cells are used for storing pollen or honey. So accurately is each comb placed with regard to its neighbour that the space between them allows only two working bees to pass each other (Fig. 6) as they carry on their ceaseless labor. The cells of the drones, having to accommodate a rather larger larva, are made slightly bigger, and in some wild honey-bees they are all placed together in a special drone comb. The cell in which the queen is reared is, however, altogether different. It is about the size of an acorn, and its walls are much thicker than those of the other cells and are usually rounded. As soon as the queen bee is hatched out these walls are destroyed and their wax is used to add more worker cells to the comb. An average hive (Fig. 7) will contain some 30,000 working bees, some 2,000 drones, and but one queen, who alone is

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