Pacivaud ] RELATIONS OF INSECTS TO MAN". 93 



Langstroth, Quimby, and AYagner, bee culture has become 

 with us oue of the fine arts iu agriculture, and a few hives 

 are necessaiy adjuncts to a w'ell conducted farm. The pro- 

 duction of honey and wax has enormously increased in this 

 countr}', and it is to be hoped that out of the thousands who 

 keep bees, one or two at least may arise who, like Iluber, 

 Siebold, Leuckart, Dzierzon and Berlepsch in the old world, 

 nia}^ advance our knowledge of the economy of the bee and 

 its modes of reproduction, so intricate and wonderful, and 

 thus lay still broader and deeper the foundations of scien- 

 tific bee culture. We need not here speak at length on a 

 subject so familiar to many as the structure and habits of 

 the honey bee, and of the various other kinds of bees which 

 store up honey. One point, however, and an important one, 

 has quite recently been cleared up by a German naturalist, 

 Professor Claus. The production of wax is a most important 

 part of bee culture, especially in Catholic countries, where so 

 nian^' candles are used in churches. It is well known that 

 the secretion of wax is carried on during the time when the 

 workers are engaged in building their combs. We are all 

 familiar, at least through pictures, with the festoons of bees 

 hanging from the top of their hives. During this time of 

 repose the secretion of the little disks of wax goes on. IIow 

 is the wax secreted? The best authorities have diftered 

 on this important point. On the one hand Milne-Edwards, 

 the distinguished French naturalist, supposed that the wax- 

 secreting apparatus consisted of special glands, while an 

 equally eminent German, Von Siebold, thought that no such 

 glands existed. A countryman of Von Siebold, however, 

 Prof. Claus, has, from special investigations of his own, 

 confirmed Milne-Edwards' suppositions. I quote from a 

 translation of a part of Claus' article in the "Guide to the 

 Study of Insects." "The wax-secreting apparatus consists 

 of special dermal glands as Milne-Edwards supposed. Claus 

 has shown (sec Gegcnbaur's Vergleichenden Anatomic) that 



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