B£E. 
296 
that it took any thing from between. We very 
often see some of the bees wagging their belly, as 
if tickled, running round, and to and fro, for only a 
little way, followed by one or two other bees, as 
if examimng them, I conceived they were pro- 
bably shaking out the scales of wax, and that the 
others were ready upon tlie watch to catch them, 
but I could not absolutely determine what they 
did. It is with these scales that they form the 
cells called the comb, but perhaps not entirely, 
for, I believe, they mix farina with it; however, 
this only occasionally, when probably the secre- 
tion is not in great plenty. I have some reason 
to think, that where no other substance is intro- 
duced, the thickness of the scale is the same with 
that of the sides of the comb; if so, then a comb 
may be no more than a number of these united ; 
but a great deal of the comb seems to be too 
thick for this, and, indeed, would appear to be a 
mixture, similar to the covering of the chrysalis. 
The wax naturally is white, but when melted 
from the comb at large, it is yellow. I appre- 
hended this might arise from its ])eing stained 
with honey, the excrement of the maggots, and 
with the bee-bread. I steeped some white comb 
in honey, boiled some with farina, as also with 
old comb, but 1 could not say that it was made 
yellower. Wax, by bleaching, is brought back to 
its natural colour, which is also a proof that its 
colour is derived from some mixture. 1 have rea- 
son to believe that they take the old comb, when 
either broken down, or by any accident rendered 
