Hive-Bees. 125 



" All the scales," says Huber, " are not alike in every 

 bee, for a difference is perceptible in consistence, shape, and 

 thickness; some are so thin and transparent as to require 

 a magnifier to be recognised, or we have been able to dis- 

 cover nothing but spiculge similar to those of water freezing. 

 Neither the spiculse nor the scales rest immediately on the 

 membrane of the pocket, a slight liquid medium is inter- 

 posed, serving to lubricate the joinings of the rings, or to 

 render the extraction of the scales easier, as otherwise they 

 might adhere too firmly to the sides of the pockets." M. 

 Huber has seen the scales so large as to project beyond the 

 rings, being visible without stretching the segments, and of 

 a whitish yellow, from greater thickness lessening their 

 transparency. These shades of difference in the scales of 

 various bees, their enlarged dimensions, the fluid interposed 

 beneath them, the correspondence between the scale and the 

 size and form of the pockets, seem to infer the oozing of this 

 substance through the membranes whereon it is moulded. 

 He was confirmed in this opinion by the escape of a trans- 

 parent fluid on piercing the membrane, whose internal sur- 

 face seemed to be applied to the soft parts of the belly. 

 This he found coagulated in cooling, when it resembled 

 wax, and again liquefied on exposure to heat. The scales 

 themselves, also, melted and coagulated like wax.* 



By chemical analysis, however, it appears that the wax 

 of the rings is a more simple substance than that which 

 composes the cells ; for the latter is soluble in ether, and 

 in spirit of turpentine, while the former is insoluble in 

 ether, and but partially soluble in spirit of turpentine. It 

 should seem to follow, that if the substance found lying 

 under the rings be really the elements of wax, it undergoes 

 some subsequent preparation after it is detached ; and that 

 the bees, in short, are capable of impregnating it with matter, 

 imparting to it whiteness and ductility, whereas in its un- 

 prepared state it is only fusible. 



* Huber on Bees, p. 325. 



