Production of Wax and Comb. 



Tliis subject is an intensely interesting 

 study. Before the time of Huber, it was 

 generally supposed tliat wax was made 

 from bee-bread; but Huber fully demon- 

 strated that bees could construct comb from 

 honey without the aid of bee-bread. But, 

 oxygen, being the support of animal heat, 

 is essential to bees while building comb, 

 because an extraordinary amount of heat 

 must be generated to enable them to soften 

 the wax and mould it into such delicate 

 forms. 



We herewith present a cut of the under 

 surface of tlie Bee, showing the wax forma- 

 tions between the segments: 



Dr. Donhoff states that in new comb the 

 thickness of the sides of the cells is but the 

 180th part of an inch ! Such delicate work 

 is hardly conceivable ; and yet, bees often 

 make it in the dark, on cool, cloudy days or 

 in the night— appearing never to rest. 



Prof. Duncan, (professor of Geology), in 

 King's College, London, in his work on the 

 " Transformation of Insects," remarks as 

 follows on this interesting subject : 



" The production of wax is one of the 

 most remarkable physiological phenomena 

 of the organization of these HyDienoptera. 

 It was generally thought, formerly, that the 

 bees disgorged their wax from the mouth, 

 and Reaumur certainly held this opinion ; 

 but John Hunter discovered the manner in 

 which the wax was formed ; and it is now 

 evident that the bees carry within them- 

 selves this important building material.— 

 The segments of the abdomen of bees over- 

 lap from before backwards, but when the 

 margin of one is lifted up, two broad and 

 smooth surfaces will be noticed on the 

 vnicovered surface of the next wing; these 

 surfaces maintain during one part of the 

 year two thin, white, and almost transpar- 

 ent laminae, which are really composed of 

 wax. The wax is really secreted oy some 

 small glands which are within the abtlomen, 

 and it transudes through the soft and 

 smooth integument between the rings or 



segments. It would appear that the sugary 

 matters which are sucked and digested by 

 the bees are to a great extent transformed 

 into wax, which is to all intents and pur- 

 poses a sort of fat." 



A writer in Scribner's Monthly thus 

 describes the manner of comb building in a 

 new swarm : 



" When a swarm of bees is about to leave 

 its old home and seek another, eacli bee tills 

 itself with honey. After entering their 

 new home, the gorged bees suspend them- 

 selves in festoons, hanging from the 

 top of the hive. They hang motionless for 

 about 24 hours. During this time the honey 

 has been digested and converted into a 

 peculiar animal oil, which collects itself in 

 scales or laminre beneath the abdominal 

 rings. This is the wax. One of the work- 

 ers, called the founder, then draws from its 

 own body, by means of its clawed foot, a 

 scale of wax. This it breaks down and 

 crumbles, and works with its mouth and 

 mandibles till it becomes pliable, and it 

 then issues from the mouth in the form of a 

 long narrow ribbon, made white and soft by 

 an admixture of saliva from the tongue.— 

 Meanwhile the otiier bees are making ready 

 their material in the same way. On the 

 ceiling of tiie hive an inverted, solid arch of 

 wax is built, and from this the first founda- 

 tion cells are excavated, all the subsequent 

 ones being built up and around these, which 

 are usually 3 in number. The size and 

 shape of the cell is determined by its future 

 use; but all comb is formed of 2 sheets of 

 cells placed back to back, the partition 

 walls of the 2 slieeis always alternating 

 with one another. If the comb is intended 

 for brood, 25 cells of worker-brood, and 16 

 of drone, go to the square inch." 



Neighbour, in his work on " The Apiary," 

 says : 



"Wax is the animal fat of the bees, and 

 to produce it requires a considerable con- 

 sumption of honey to supply the drain upon 

 the system. To be capable of passing 

 through the pores of the abdomen, the wax 

 must, no doubt, be a liquid, oily matter, 

 which, on making its appearance outside 

 the abdominal rings, thickens, and exudes 

 from under the 4 medial ones, in flakes like 

 tish-scales, one on each side ; so that there 

 are 8 of these secreting cavities, which are 

 peculiar to the worker, not being found 

 eitlier in the queen or drone. 



" The rapidity with which comb-building 

 progresses would lead to the supposition 

 that there is a division of labour among 

 bees, just as laborers convey building 

 material to the artisans on the scaffold 

 above. This work of comb-building is car- 

 ried forward in warm weather, for a cold 

 temperature interferes with the secretion of 

 wax. Von Berlepsch declares that he has 

 known cases in which a colony has built 

 300 square inches of comb in a single night !" 



The Rev. L. L. Langstroth remarks as 

 follows : 



"It is an interesting fact, which seems 

 hitherto to have escaped notice, tiiat honey- 

 gathering and comb-building go on simulta- 



