For the purpose of collecting, carrying home, and manufacturing these several products, the working bee is provided with a complete and beautiful apparatus, consisting of a _proboscis_ (almost as wonderful in its way as that of the elephant), by which she ascertains the nature of food, and imbibes such as is adapted to her wants; a _honey bag_, or second stomach, which is a small transparent globe about the size of a pea, where she deposits her nectar; a _pair of baskets_, one in each hind leg, in which she stores the pollen of flowers, and the propolis or gum of trees; and lastly, in the case of the wax-makers, _four pairs of wax pockets_, or membranous bags, contained in the abdomen, where by some unknown process wax is secreted from the food taken into the stomach. What an astonishing provision for the requirements of a single insect! [Illustration: HIND LEG OF WORKER. _a_, the haunch; _b_, the thigh; _c_, the tibia, or pallet, containing the basket or cavity; _d_, _e_, the foot. ] THE MANUFACTURE OF WAX. The honey-comb of a bee is a beautiful and highly curious object, and is composed of wax, a substance which man, with all his skill, is unable to fabricate. Whether the hive be natural or artificial, the plan of its construction is much the same. A number of honey-combs, chiefly composed of _six-sided_ cells, regularly applied to each other’s sides, and arranged in two layers, are fixed to the upper part and sides of the interior of the hive. These combs are arranged at a small distance from each other, and the cells have their openings into the spaces between them, which are wide enough to allow two bees to pass each other easily. Besides these vacancies the combs are here and there pierced with holes, which serve as a means of communication from one comb to another, without losing time by going round. [Illustration: INTERIOR OF THE HIVE. ]