Hi kazmcc. They are to put the cell cups in, cork out, cell cup in. or cell cup out, cork in. Enables one to examine the cell cups without disturbing the colony too much. The less I have to battle with a queenless colony the better! With the starter box some of the bees would return to their colony if the lid was left open and the object is to get the starter box crowded with bees, young bees if possible.