ORDER VI. VEIN-WINGED INSECTS. 271 



the hive with bee-bread, arc 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 

 the 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 Hcaumure, it is then disgorged by the mouth as 

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

 apiarians, the wax comes cut 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 w r eather 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 



