BEES-WAX. 363 



was repaired during bad weather, when the bees 

 could not acquire any other material. This state- 

 ment of Duchet corresponds with my own obser- 

 vation, as stated in page 357, but is not so con- 

 clusive. In Duchet's instance there might have 

 been other materials in the hive besides honey ; 

 whereas in my case the bees had access to no ma- 

 terials whatever, excepting the sugared ale and the 

 honey which they had conveyed from the parent 

 hive, the swarm having been just hived. WILD- 

 MAN, in his Treatise on the Management of Bees, 

 states his having seen pieces of wax, like fish 

 scales, on the hive floor of a fresh swarmed 

 colony, part of which he thinks must at least 

 have been formed upon the body of the bee ; some 

 flakes might have fallen from the combs then 

 constructing, but there were many pieces among 

 them which were concave on one side and con- 

 vex on the other, as if moulded on the insect's 

 belly. Flakes were likewise seen, hanging loose, 

 between the abdominal scales of the bees. In 

 1792, MR. JOHN HUNTER, apparently unacquaint- 

 ed with antecedent conjectures, detected the ge- 

 nuine reservoir of wax under the bee's belly. 

 He considered wax as an external secretion of 

 oil, formed and moulded between the abdominal 

 scales of the insect. DR. EVANS confirms the 

 testimony of Wildman and Hunter, having been 

 an eye-witness to the formation of wax into 

 R 2 



