Very remarkable diversity is observed in their methods of
working and their general habits. When the hive has been delivered
to them clean and empty, they build their waxen cells, bringing in the
juice of all kinds of flowers and the 'tears' or exuding sap of trees,
such as willows and elms and such others as are particularly given
to the exudation of gum. With this material they besmear the
groundwork, to provide against attacks of other creatures; the
bee-keepers call this stuff 'stop-wax'. They also with the same
material narrow by side-building the entrances to the hive if they are
too wide. They first build cells for themselves; then for the
so-called kings and the drones; for themselves they are always
building, for the kings only when the brood of young is numerous,
and cells for the drones they build if a superabundance of honey
should suggest their doing so. They build the royal cells next to
their own, and they are of small bulk; the drones' cells they build
near by, and these latter are less in bulk than the bee's cells.
They begin building the combs downwards from the top of the
hive, and go down and down building many combs connected together
until they reach the bottom.
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