VEGETABLE PHYSIOLOGY. 



[LESSON 6. 



deposits, the wax required to build its cells ; this, however, is a mis- 

 take, wax being solely a vegetable product, and neither the bee, nor 

 any other animal, is capable of secreting it. 



116. During the active season of the year, when this material is 

 most needed, the bees seek those plants which their instinct tells them 

 supply the wax. 



117. They possess the power of collecting it in a state of great 

 purity free from the extraneous materials with which it is more or 

 less combined. 



118. With their jaws, they fashion it into thin scales, and place 

 them between the plates of the abdomen for safety, to be conveyed to 

 the hive for use. 



119. Well may this singularly industrious little creature be called 

 laden ; with its stomach filled with nectar to be converted into honey, 

 its abdominal rings lined with cakes of wax, and the hollow spaces or 

 baskets of its thighs, and the hairs of its body filled, or covered with 

 grains of pollen for bee-bread. 



120. The secretion of the ceruminous glands (ear-wax) of animals, 

 differs altogether from vegetable wax. 



121. CHLOROPHYLLE, or the green coloring matter of leaves, is 

 allied to wax, being soluble in ether and alcohol, but insoluble in 

 water. 



122. RESINOUS PRODUCTS. The milky and colored juices of plants 

 frequently contain resins mixed with volatile oils, in the form of 

 balsams. 



123. These are either fluid or solid; 

 the former may be illustrated by the Bal- 

 sam of Tolu, Balsam of Copaiva, Carpathian 

 Balsam, Strasburg Turpentine, Canada Bal- 

 sam, and many others. The solid forms 

 may be illustrated by common resin. Bur- 

 gundy pitch, Mastic, Sandarach, Elami, 

 G-uaiacum, Dragon's blood, and others. 



124. CAOUTCHOUC (India-rubber) is ana- 

 logous to essential oils ; it is found associated 

 with them and resinous matters, in the milky 

 juice of plants. It is procured from various 

 species of Ficus, as Ficus elastica, &c., by 

 wounding the plants. 



Lactiferous vessels. 125. A kind of Caoutchouc, called gutta 



percha, imported from Singapore, and Borneo, is procured from ISO- 



FIG. 26. 



