ORDER VI. VEIN-A\aNGED INSECTS. 277 



the hive with bee-bread, are caught with a bird-lime twig, 

 and examined with a powerful magnifying glass, this farina, 

 which they carry in their fossae, shows no difference from its 

 former condition, when on the stamen. If it is held, in a 

 spoon, over the fire, it will not melt as wax does, but, on 

 the contrary, will burn to ashes. 



It was at one time believed that the pollen, mixed with 

 tlie honey, or the venom of bees, would produce wax ; but 

 all the experiments made in this manner, or for this pur- 

 pose, proved a failure. The pollen must, therefore, undergo 

 a chemical change within the body of the bee before it can 

 become wax ; and, in order to make the latter from the for- 

 mer, it is necessary that the bees swallow the pollen, when 

 it is manufactured into wax within their stomachs. Ac- 

 cording to Reaumure, it is then disgorged by the mouth as 

 wax ; but, according to the observations of Pluber and other 

 apiarians, the wax comes out in little scales from the abdo- 

 men, between the ringlets. This latter opinion is consid- 

 ered the correct one, and is now well established by observa- 

 tion and experience ; so that the questions, whether the wax 

 is made out of honey or out of the pollen, and whether the 

 wax is disgorged from the mouth or detached from between 

 the ringlets of the hind body in the form of little scales, seem 

 to be now entirely settled among the most learned entomol- 

 ogists and apiarians. 



The third article which the bees collect is honey, with 

 which they fill the cells. We have already mentioned that 

 this substance is obtained from the bottom of the calyx, or 

 from the nectaries of flowers. Honey, with the farina, 

 forms the principal food of bees — the former especially, 

 when the weather is unfavorable for their excursions out 

 of the hive, and during winter, when they perish unless 

 they have a sufficient quantity of this food in the hive. 



The perfume, which is more or less contained in both 

 the wax and honey, is derived from the pollen of aromatic 



