The cells, both those for the honey and
those also for the grubs, are double-doored; for two cells are
ranged about a single base, one pointing one way and one the other,
after the manner of a double (or hour-glass-shaped) goblet. The
cells that lie at the commencement of the combs and are attached to
the hives, to the extent of two or three concentric circular rows, are
small and devoid of honey; the cells that are well filled with honey
are most thoroughly luted with wax. At the entry to the hive the
aperture of the doorway is smeared with mitys; this substance is a
deep black, and is a sort of dross or residual by-product of wax; it
has a pungent odour, and is a cure for bruises and suppurating
sores. The greasy stuff that comes next is pitch-wax; it has a less
pungent odour and is less medicinal than the mitys. Some say that
the drones construct combs by themselves in the same hive and in the
same comb that they share with the bees; but that they make no
honey, but subsist, they and their grubs also, on the honey made by
the bees. The drones, as a rule, keep inside the hive; when they go
out of doors, they soar up in the air in a stream, whirling round
and round in a kind of gymnastic exercise; when this is over, they
come inside the hive and feed to repletion ravenously.
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