APIS. 



to make their combs, for they have the 

 materials within themselves. " I have 

 reason," says Mr. Hunter, "to believe 

 that they fill their crops with honey when 

 they come away, probably from the stock 

 in the hive- 1 killed several of those that 

 came away, ami found their crops full, 

 while those that remained in the hive had 

 their crops not near so full : some of them 

 came away with farina on their It- gs, which 

 I conceive to be rather accidental. I may 

 just observe here, that a hive commonly 

 sends offtwo, sometimes three, swarms in 

 a summer, but that the second is common- 

 ly less than the first, and the third less 

 than the second ; and this last has seldom 

 time to provide for the winter. 



"The materials of their dwelling or 

 comb, which is the wax, is the next con- 

 sideration, with the mode of forming, pre- 

 paring, or disposing 1 , of it. In giving a 

 totally new account of the wax, I shall 

 first shew it can hardly be what it has 

 be' n supposed to be First, I shall ob- 

 serve that ihe materials, as they are found 

 composing the comb, are not to be found 

 in , same state (as a composition) in any 

 vegetable, wlierethey have been supposed 

 to be got. The substance brought in on 

 the legs which is the farina of the flow- 

 ers of plants, is, in common, I believe, 

 imagined to be the materials of which 

 the wax is made, for it is called by most 

 the wax : but it is the farina, for it is al- 

 ways of the same colour as the farina of 

 the flower where they are gathering ; and 

 indeed, we see them gathering it, and we 

 also see them covered almost all over with 

 it like a dust ; nevertheless, it has been 

 supposed to be the wax, or that the wax 

 was extracted from it. Reaumur is of 

 this opinion. I made several experiments, 

 to see if there WHS such a quantity of oil 

 in it as would account for the quantity of 

 wax to be formed, and to learn if it was 

 composed of oil. I held it near the can- 

 dle, it burnt, but it did not smell like 

 wax, and had the same smell, when burn- 

 ing, as farina when it was burnt. I ob- 

 served that this substance was of different 

 colours on different bees, but always of 

 the same colour on both legs of the same 

 bee ; whereas a new made comb was 

 all of one colour. I observed that it 

 was gathered with more aridity for old 

 hives, where the comb is complete, than 

 for those hives where it only begun, which 

 we could hardly conceive, if it was the ma- 

 terials of wax : also we may observe, that, 

 at the very beginning of a hive, the bees 

 seldom bring in any substance on their 

 legs for two or three days, and after that 



the farina gatherers begin to increase ; 

 for now some cells are formed to hold it 

 as a store, and some eggs are laid, which, 

 when hatched, will require this substance 

 as food, and which will be ready when 

 the weather is wet. 



" The wax is formed by the bees them- 

 selves ; it may be called an external se- 

 cretion of oil, and I have found that it is 

 formed between each scale of the under 

 side of the belly. When I first observed 

 this substance, in my examination of the 

 working bee, I was at a loss to say what 

 it was : I asked myself if it was new 

 scales forming, and whether they cast the 

 old, as the lobster, &c. does ? but it was 

 to be found only between the scales on 

 the lower side of the belly. On examining 

 the bees through glass hives, while they 

 were climbing up the glass, I could see 

 that most of 'hem had this substance, for 

 it looked as if the lower or posterior edge 

 of the scale was double, or that there 

 were double scales : but I perceived it 

 was loose, not attached. Finding that the 

 substance brought in on their legs was 

 farina, intended, as appeared from every 

 circumstance, to be the food of the mag- 

 got, and not to make wax, and not hav- 

 ing yet perceived any thing that could 

 give me the least idea of wax, I conceived 

 these scales might be it, at least I thought 

 it necessary to investigate them. I there- 

 fore took several on the point of a needle, 

 and held them to a candle, where they 

 melted, and immediately formed them- 

 selves into round globules ; upon which 

 I no longer doubted but this was the wax, 

 which opinion was confirmed to me by not 

 finding those scales but in the building 

 season. 



" The cells, or rather the congeries of 

 cells, which compose the comb, may be 

 said to form perpendicular plates, or 

 partitions, which extend from top to 

 bottom of the cavity in which they build 

 them, and from side to side. They always 

 begin at the top or roof of the vault in 

 which they build, and work downwards : 

 but if the upper part of this vault to 

 which their combs are fixed is removed, 

 and a dome is put over, they begin at the 

 upper edge of the old comb, and work 

 up into the new cavity at the top. They 

 generally may be guided, as to the direc- 

 tion of their new plates of comb, by 

 forming ridges at top, to which they be- 

 gin to attach their comb. In a long hive, 

 if these ridges are longitudinal, their 

 plates of comb will be longitudinal: if 

 placed transverse, so will be the plates,- 

 and if oblique, the plates of comb will be 



