J88 ON BEES WAX. 



favourable to the feeretion of honey by the flowers : the bees 

 never colleft it in greater abundance, nor is the preparation of 

 wax ever more a6live than when the wind is in the fouth, the 

 air humid and warm, and a florm gathering. 



Heat too long continued, and the drought which Is the con* 

 fequence of it, cold rains, and principally a north wind, faf- 

 pend it entirely. 



THIRD EXPERIMENT. 



On the Ufe which the Bees make of the fecundating Powder, 



Jxp. UU In the fecond experiment the bees did not touch the pollei^ 



which I had placed within their reach, and, as its quantity was 

 not fenfibly diminithed during this trial, I was induced to be- 

 lieve that it was not an aliment proper for them. 

 What is tbe ufc I alfo knew that the new fvvarms were liable to perllh from 

 of pollen . hunger in the middle of fummer, and even when the country 



was covered witl) flowers, if a particular temperature, which 

 is too uncommon in our climate, did not favour the fecretion of 

 honey in their neflaria. What, therefore, is the ufe of the 

 pollen which they colle6lwith fuch avidity during eight months 

 of the year, and of which they lay up fuch abundance?* 

 This queftion remained to be inveftigated. 

 I had a hive, in divifions, the queen of which was barren; 

 its combs did not contain any pollen, but they had much ho- 

 ney : the two narrowed fides of this hiye were formed of panes 

 of glafs, through which the furfaces of the exterior combs 

 might be feen, and the condu6t of the bees obferved. 

 The queen, bee I took away the queen on the 16th of July, but to confole the 

 taken away. working bees I removed the firfl and the twelfth combs, in 

 which there was not any thing to intereft them, and I fupplied 

 their places with two combs, the cells of which were filled 

 with eggs, and worms of all ages. I carefully cut away all 

 the cells in which pollen could be perceived^ and (hut up the 



* Reaumur was of opinion that the bees of a well-ftocked hive 

 might colle6l at leaft a hundred pounds of this fubftance in the courfe 

 of a year i but, having remarked that the weight of wax, fabricated 

 in the fame time, did not exceed two pounds, he concluded f* that 

 Jthe bees extrail only a very Tmajl portion of the true wax from this 

 native wax, that the greateft part of it is required for their nourilh- 

 men^, and, that the reft is difcharged from their bodies in the forni 

 of excrement." 



hive 



