Now commences that wonderful and mysterious process of wax forming, which is carried on in perfect silence by the cluster of hanging bees. You will remember that the abdomen of the worker is composed of six rings; underneath these are the eight wax-pockets. There are two in each ring except in the first and last. It is perhaps interesting to note that the queen and the drone have no wax-pockets because they do not take part in the making of wax. For a similar reason their legs are not furnished with wax-pincers, like those of the worker. As the bees hang from the roof of the hive, in solemn and impressive silence, tiny scales are to be seen protruding from the wax-pockets. They look almost like a letter which has been pushed half-way into the slot of a pillar-box. A wax-pocket produces one wax scale, and so the workers each make eight tiny pieces of wax. In order that wax may be made in this manner it is necessary for the bees to consume a large quantity of honey, 10 or 15 lbs. of which produces only 1 lb. of wax. We have already seen that the hind leg of the worker is provided with a set of wax-pincers (see Plate X.), and when the tiny scale of wax has been formed, these pincers take hold of it and remove it from the pocket. By means of the front legs it is then passed to the mouth, and here the strong little jaws come in useful. In its present state the wax is hard and rough, and it must be made smooth and pliable. It is mixed with juices supplied by glands in the bee’s mouth, and worked by the jaws until it is so soft that it can be moulded into any desired shape. Often, when wax is being made, the floor of the hive becomes covered with wax plates which have fallen from the cluster above. When the wax has been kneaded to the correct degree of softness, the worker will leave the cluster of hanging bees, and crawl to the highest part of the roof of the hive. This is the foundation-stone of the combs, for they are not built upwards from the ground as our houses are, but downwards from the roof. [Illustration: PLATE XX From a photograph by] [E. Hawks Queen Cells on Comb]