308 
BEE. 
is as common to a hive as any part belonging to 
tlie mconomy of bees. Before they have formed 
five or six square inclies of comb in a young hive, 
we shall find eggs, honey, and bee- bread j and at 
whatever time of the year we kill a hive, we shall 
find this substance; and if a hive is short of honey, 
and dies in the winter, we find no honey, but all 
the bee-bread, which was laid up in store for the 
maggots in the spring. They take great care of 
it, for it is often covered over with wax, as the 
honey, and I believe more especially in the winter; 
probably with a view to preserve it till wanted. 
In April I have found some of the cells full, others 
only half full. If we slit down a cell filled with 
this substance, we shall commonly find it com- 
posed of layers of different colours; some a deep 
orange, others a pale brown. In glass hives, we 
often find that the glass makes one side of the 
cell, and frequently in such we shall see at once 
the different strata above mentioned. This is the 
substance which they bring in on their legs, and 
consists of the farina of plants. It is not the 
farina of every plant that the bee collects, at least 
they are found gathering it from some with great 
industry, while we never find them on others; St. 
John’s wort is a favourite plant, but that comes 
late. The llower of the gourd, cucumber, &c. 
they seem to he fond of. What they do collect 
must be the very loose stuff, just ready to be 
blown off to impregnate the female part of the 
flower; and to show that this is the case, vve find 
bees impregnate flowers that have not the male 
