284 THE BEE. 



have been in the fields already, take their places. They 

 seem even to have signs by which Jthey understand each 

 other ; for when any of them want food, it bends down its 

 trunk to the bee from whom it is expected, which then 

 opens its honey-bag, and lets some drops fall into the oth- 

 er's mouth, which is at that time open to receive it. 



Honey is originally a juice digested in plants, which 

 sweats through their pores, and chiefly in their flowers, or 

 is contained in reservoirs in which nature stores it. The 

 bees sometimes penetrate into these stores, and at other 

 times find the liquor exuded. This they collect in their 

 stomachs ; so that, when loaded with it, they seem, to an 

 attentive eye, to come home without any booty at all. Be- 

 sides the liquor already mentioned, which is obtained from 

 the flowers of plants, another substance, called honey dew, 

 has been discovered, of which the bees are equally fond. 

 From whatever source the bees have collected their honey, 

 the instant they return^home, they seek cells in which they 

 may disgorge and deposit their loads. They have two 

 sorts of stores ; one of which consists of honey laid up for 

 the winter, and the other of honey intended for accidental 

 use in case of bad weather, and for such bees as do not go 

 abroad in search of it. Their method of securing each of 

 these is different. They have in each cell a thicker sub- 

 stance, which is placed over the honey to prevent its run- 

 ning out of the cell ; and that substance is raised gradually 

 as the cell is filled, till the bees, 'finding that the (yell can- 

 not contain any more, close it with a covering of wax, not 

 to be opened till times of want, during the winter. 



The balls which we see attached to the legs of bees re- 

 turning to the hives, are not wax, but a powder collected 

 from the stamina of flowers, not yet brought to the state of 

 wax. The substance of these balls, heated in any vessel, 

 does not melt as wax would do, but becomes dry and 

 hardens ; it may even be reduced to a coal. If thrown 

 into water it will sink, whereas wax swims. To reduce 



