Page 138 - The Miracle of the Honeybee

136 THE MIRACLE OF THE HONEYBEE

each hexagon stand at a slight incline in respect of the partition wall. This
incline prevents honey flowing out of filled cells. 122
In addition, there is also a hierarchy in the hive, in that the cells for
workers are higher up and those for the drone males, which are fewer in
number, are lower down. The queen cells are constructed at the very low-
est level. All these brood cells are constructed according to need. For ex-
ample, when the number of males in the hive drops, or at the end of
winter (during winter, there are no drones in the hive), the bees start to
make the rather larger cells to accommodate the males. In the same way,
queen cells are constructed only when a new queen is required in the hive.
In the construction of the combs, there are a great many other im-
portant details such as the mathematical calculations re-
quired during the production and use of the raw
material for the comb—all quite astonishing.