14 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOUKNAL. 



Huisli has critically examined these exiDcri- 

 ments of Iluber, but without being conviuced 

 b,y tliem ; lor having observed pollen on the 

 thighs ot bees when swarming, and upon dis- 

 section, in their stomachs also, he considers 

 that pollen, elaborated in the second stomach of 

 the bee, "contains in itself the principle of 

 wax " Were this the case what a stoi-e of pol- 

 len must the bees have reserved in Huber's ex- 

 periments, wherein they formed five successive 

 sets of comb, without access to fresh pollen ! 

 The pollen or bee-bread, which Huish discov- 

 ered on the thighs and in the stomach of some 

 of his Ibees, was most likely imported by such 

 of them as being on I he return home at the time 

 their companions were swarming, joined the 

 throng with that freight which was intended for 

 larva-food in the hive. With this pollen (or 

 ambrosia, as it has been called,) after conver- 

 sion into a sort of whitish jelly by the action of 

 the bee's stomach, where it is probably mixed 

 Avith honey, and then regurgitated, the young 

 brood, immediately upon their exclusion from 

 the ova state and until their change into nymphs, 

 are fed by the nursing-bees several times a day. 

 The opinion that pollen is the prime constituent 

 of wax was held by Bulfon, and remains uncon- 

 tradicted in an edition of his works so late as 

 1821. Arthur Dohbs, Esq., in the Philosophi- 

 cal Transactions for 1753, instead of considering 

 wax as digested pollen discharged from the 

 stomach of the bee, regards it as being emitted 

 per anum ; and as he speaks of its discharge in 

 husks or shells, doubtless he saw it in that form, 

 which it is now known to assume when moulded 

 upon the body of the bee. Indeed he says that 

 he has had swarming bees alight upon his hand, 

 and drop warm wax upon it. Its being secreted 

 only by the under side of the belly might easily 

 deceive, and lead him to regard it as alvine ex- 

 crement. That minute and accurate observer 

 Butler, though evidently not aware of the se- 

 cretory process by which wax is generated, 

 noticed that in fresh swa' ms, the bees came in 

 without any pollen upon tncir thighs, and there- 

 fore supposed the mouth to be the vehicle for 

 conveying it. " When they gather abundance 

 of this stuff," (pollen) " they have never the 

 more wax ; when they make most wax, they 

 gather none of this." Butler even remarked 

 that old stocks gather much pollen, and fresh 

 ones little ; because the stocks have larvae to 

 feed, whilst the swarms have none. 



I will here subjoin some more proofs of the 

 nonidentity of wax and pollen. So long ago 

 as 1768, the Lusatian Society (called Societedes 

 AbeiUes, founded at Little Bautzen, a village in 

 Upper Lusatia, under the auspices of the Elec- 

 tor of Saxony,) knew that wax was not dis- 

 chargecl from the mouths of bees, but was se- 

 creted in thin scales among their abdominal 

 rings or segments. About 1774, Mr. Thorley 

 caught a bee just entering its hive, and found, 

 among the plaits of its belly, no less than six 

 pieces or scales of solid wax, perfectly white 

 and transparent, and he oftentimes saw wax in 

 the same situation. M. Duchet, in his Culture 

 des Abeilles, quoted by Wildman in 1778, de- 

 clares that wax is formed of honey ; and relates 

 in proof of it, that he has seen a broken comb 



of an overset hive, which was repaired during 

 bad weather, when the bees could not acquire 

 anjf other material. This statement of Duchet 

 corresponds with my own observation, here- 

 tofore made, but is not so conclusive. In 

 Duchet's instance there might have been other 

 materials in the hive besides honey ; whereas 

 in my case the bees had access to no materials 

 whatever, excepting the sugared ale aud the 

 honey which they had conveyed from the parent 

 hive, the swarm having been just hived. But- 

 ler and Wildman state their having seen pieces 

 of wax like fish scales, on the hive fioor of fresh 

 swarmed colonies, part of which, at least, they 

 both thought must have been formed upon the 

 body of the bee ; for though some flakes might 

 have fallen Irom the combs then constructing, 

 there were many pieces among them which 

 were concave on one side and convex on the 

 other, as if moulded on the insect's belly. 

 Flakes were likewise seen hanging loose, be- 

 tween the abdominal scales of the bees. In 

 179'-^, Mr. John Hunter, apparently unacquainted 

 witli antecedent conjectures, detected the gen- 

 uine reservoir of wa.x under the bee's belly. He 

 considered wax as an external secretion of oil, 

 formed and moulded between the abdominal 

 scales of the insect. Dr. Evans confirms the 

 testimony of Wildman and Hunter. "One or 

 more bees," he remarks, "maybe often seen 

 before the door of the hive, supporting them- 

 selves by their two fore feet, fluttering their 

 wings, and agitating the hind parts of their 

 bodies. They are then evidently moulding the 

 wax between their abdominal scales, the mo- 

 tion of the wings serving to preserve their 

 balance, and as a signal for their companions 

 within to come aud carry off the falling flakes, 

 to the formation of which he was an eye-wit- 

 ness." 



To complete the evidence, however, to me so 

 irresistible, in favor of the wax-secreting faculty 

 of the hse'sbody, I observe finally, that in 1798, 

 M. HuLer's observations led him to the same 

 conclusion as Mr. Hunter's, relative to the na- 

 ture of the laminae under the abdominal scales : 

 btit Iluber slumbered not there ; he prosecuted 

 the inquiry more successfully than any preced- 

 ing naturalist, and at length demonstrated the 

 secreting organs which had eluded the scrutiny 

 of Swammerdam, Hunter, andotheracute anat- 

 omists. He found that these laminaj were corr- 

 taiued in distinct receptacles, on each side of 

 the middle process of the scales ; he examined, 

 with great care, the form and structure of these 

 secreting cavities, which are peculiar to work- 

 ing bees. Each working bee has eight of these 

 organs, sacklets or small compartments. Their 

 general shape is an irregular pentagon, and the 

 plates of wax being moulded in them, exhibit 

 accordingly the same form. A perforation of 

 their lining membrane on the side next to the 

 abdomen, started a jet of transparent fluid, 

 which congealed on cooling ; in this state it re- 

 sembled wax, and became again fluid on the 

 application of heat. 



Comparative experiments were made with 

 the substance contained in the pouches and 

 with the wax ot fresh combs ; a great similarity 

 between these two substances was discerned ; 



