218 THE MAKVEL OF INSECT LIFE. 



Let the bee take all or either of these substances, 

 pour it into a little air-tight membranous bag, and when 

 she pours it out again it will be converted into honey, 

 totally differing in flavour, odour, and many other quali- 

 ties, from the juices from which it was made. Yet the 

 crop, or honey-bag, in which it was kept for a short 

 time, is nothing but a little sac of membrane, so delicate 

 that all its contents can be seen through it, without 

 visible glands by which any additional substance could 

 be secreted, and having no aperture by which any such 

 substance could be introduced into it. 



The conversion of sweet juices into honey is a task 

 which at present has totally baffled human efforts, 

 though it is constantly achieved in countless myriads of 

 bees by the Divine chemistry of creation. 



So with the wax. 



This remarkable substance is not made by the bee, 

 but is secreted. On the under surface of the insect's 

 abdomen there are six little flaps, covering six corre- 

 sponding membranous pockets, and in them, by some 

 mysterious process, the wax is secreted. 



That it is formed, more or less directly, from the food, 

 is evident from the fact that its quality depends much 

 on the nature of the food eaten by the insect which 

 produces it. The best and most tenacious wax is that 

 which is formed by the honey-fed bee, whereas the wax 

 of bees which have fed on sugar is apt to be brittle, and 

 is not so valuable. 



There is no apparent connection between the digestive 



