Tuer Honey BEE. 197 
duced at a high temperature, a temperature of 90 degrees being 
required. This the bees obtain by close clustering. Huber 
found that bees produced slightly more wax when being fed with 
sugar syrup than honey syrup. Pollen is not needed in the 
production of wax, except to make up for wear of tissue, which 
is great when secreting wax. It is estimated that bees consume 
from 10 to 12 lbs. of honey to produce 1 |b. of wax, but tempera- 
ture must influence the quantity used. The way in which bees 
form the hexagonal cells is said by Mullenhoff to be that of 
mutual interference, as all circles coming into contact with each 
other assume that form, and also shows that the cells are like 
soap bubbles, which if alone are round, but when touching form 
a wall, and if there are many the centre will be hexagonal. We 
come now to the sting of the bee. It is formed of a pair of 
feelers, a sheath, and two lancets having barbs like a fish hook. 
Attached to the sting is a poison sac worked by a set of muscles 
which pumps the poison into the wound. The bee first uses the 
feelers to see if the object is stingable. It then drives in the 
sheath, and then the lancets, which move alternately or together. 
The pain of a sting is caused by the poison introduced into the 
wound, and not by the wound itself, as the sting is only 1.500 in. 
in diameter, and is driven in to the depth of 1.50 in. While 
bees die from the effects of a sting, the poison, which is formic 
acid, can be given them in their food without any ill effects. 
Formic acid is one of the remedies used in foul brood. 
20th April, 1906. 
Chairman—The PRESIDENT. 
BirpD LirE AND Birp PHotocrapHy. By Hucu STEvART 
GLADSTONE, F.Z.S., &c. 
Birds’ nests are often built at such a height from the ground 
that it is difficult to get the lens of the camera to look down into 
them. It may at times be necessary to climb a neighbouring 
tree, taking your camera with you, and fixing it as best you can, 
so as to look down on the nest. Usually, the desired elevation 
