322 



THE INSECT WORLD. 



true nature of this secretion. This observer, who did not belong 

 to any school, or at most belonged to Nature's school, found the 

 flakes of wax sticking between the lower arches of the rings of 



Fig. 314. Beehive in leaves. 



the abdomen or belly of the working bee. The wax, then, is pro- 

 duced by the insect by exudation, and is not simply the pollen 



Fig. 315. Bee seen through a magnifying glass at the moment when the plates of wax appear between 

 the segments of the abdomen. 



gathered from flowers. Huber himself states that bees exclusively 

 nourished on pollen do not secrete wax, and that, on the con- 

 trary, they do furnish it when they eat saccharine matter. It 



