32 ON ENTOMOLOGY. 



does not find cells ready-made wherein to lay her eggs, they retain the 

 honey in the stomach, and in twenty-four hours they produce wax. 

 Then the labour of constructing combs begins. It might, perhaps, be 

 supposed, that when the country does not afford honey, the wax workers 

 consume the provision stored up in the hive ; but they are not per- 

 mitted to touch it. A portion of honey is carefully preserved, and the 

 cells containing it are protected by a waxen covering which is never 

 removed, except in cases of extreme necessity, and when honey is not 

 otherwise to be procured. The cells are at no time opened during 

 summer, other reservoirs always exposed contribute to the daily use of 

 the community ; each Bee, however, supplying itself from thence with 

 nothing but what is required for present wants. Wax workers appear 

 with large bellies at the entrance of their hive only, when the country 

 affords a copious collection of honey. From this it may be concluded, 

 that the production of the waxy matter depends on a concurrence of 

 circumstances not invariably subsisting. Nurse Bees also produce wax, 

 but in a very inferior quantity to what is elaborated by the real wax 

 workers. Another characteristic whereby an attentive observer can 

 determine the moment of Bees collecting sufficient honey to produce 

 wax, is the strong odour of both these substances from the hive, which is 

 not equally intense at any other time. From such data it was easy for 

 Huber to discover whether the Bees worked in wax in his own hives 

 and in those of the other cultivators of the district. There is still 

 another sort of Bees first observed by Huber in 1809, which appear to 

 be only casual inmates of the hive, and which are driven forth to starve 

 or are killed in conflict. They closely resemble the ordinary workers, 

 but are less hairy, and are of a much darker colour. These have been 

 called Black Bees, and supposed by Huber to foe defective Bees ; but 

 Kirby and Spence conjecture that they are toil-worn superannuated 

 workers of no further use ; and are therefore sacrificed because burden- 

 some to a community which tolerates no unnecessary inmates. The 

 very great numbers of Black Bees t however, which sometimes appear 

 does not well accord with such an opinion ; the subject remains there- 

 fore still in uncertainty. The notion commonly entertained respecting 

 glass hives, is altogether erroneous. Those who are unacquainted with 

 Bees imagine, that by means of a glass hive all their proceedings may 

 easily be watched and recorded ; but it is to be remembered, that Bees 

 are exceedingly averse to the intrusion of light, and their first operation 

 in such cases is to close up every chink by which light can enter to 

 disturb them, either by clustering together, or by a plaster composed of 

 propolis. It consequently requires considerable management and inge- 

 nuity, even with the aid of a glass hive to see them actually at work. 

 Huber employed a hive with leaves, which opened iri the manner of a 

 book, and for some purposes he used a glass box inserted in the body 

 of the hive, but easily brought into use by means of screws. But no 

 invention hitherto contrived is sufficient to obviate every difficulty. 



