HONEY. 227 



nursing bees and drones, is deposited in cells 

 which are allowed to remain open, and is probably 

 of an inferior sort ; whilst the finest honey, which 

 is laid up in store for winter, is placed in the 

 most inaccessible parts of the hive, and closed in 

 the cells with waxen lids. 



" There cluster'd now clear wells of nectar glow, 

 Like amber drops that sparkle in the Po, 

 And now (so quick the change) ere one short moon 

 Shrinks with waned crescent mid the blaze of noon, 

 All veil'd from view, these amber drops are lost, 

 And each clear well with waxen crown embost." 



EVANS. 



In the Philosophical Transactions for 1792, 

 Mr. Hunter has stated, that whatever time the 

 contents of the honey bags may be retained, they 

 still remain pure and unaltered by the digestive 

 process. Mr. Polhill, a gentleman to whom the 

 public are indebted for several articles in Rees's 

 Cyclopaedia appertaining to bees, is also of this 

 opinion. Messrs. Kirby and Spence do not ad- 

 mit this statement : as the nectar of flowers is not 

 of so thick a consistence as honey, they think it 

 must undergo some change in the stomach of the 

 bee. This opinion is strengthened by what has been 

 stated by Reaumur : he observed that if there was 

 a deficiency of flowers, at the season of honey- 

 gathering, and the bees were furnished with sugar, 

 they filled their cells with honey, differing in no 

 other respect from honey collected in the usual 



