Appearance
A frame of brood comb has two sides which appear the same until one looks at the base of the empty cells. The base is a hexagon and if you hold it up to the light there is a Y on one side of the frame and an upside down Y on the other side.
Freshly created beeswax comb may appear white at first. After the first generation of bees hatch from the brood comb it becomes yellow and darker in color (Comb that is exclusively used for honey comb appears lighter). Brood comb that is used for subsequent generations of bee brood becomes darker and darker until it almost appears black. The pupal lining sticks to the hexagonal walls of the cell and is not removed. The change in broodcomb color is due to the pupal lining that remains inside the cell and also small soil and pollen particles that are tracked in by the bees over time. The general recommendation for beekeepers is to remove and replace broodcomb that is older than four years.
Read more about this topic: Brood Comb
Famous quotes containing the word appearance:
“The complaint ... about modern steel furniture, modern glass houses, modern red bars and modern streamlined trains and cars is that all these objets modernes, while adequate and amusing in themselves, tend to make the people who use them look dated. It is an honest criticism. The human race has done nothing much about changing its own appearance to conform to the form and texture of its appurtenances.”
—E.B. (Elwyn Brooks)
“The actor is too prone to exaggerate his powers; he wants to play Hamlet when his appearance is more suitable to King Lear.”
—Sarah Bernhardt (1845–1923)
“You speak of poverty and dependence. Who are poor and dependent? Who are rich and independent? When was it that men agreed to respect the appearance and not the reality?”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)