368 BEES-WAX. 



the bees soon returned home. At the end of five 

 days, during which this experiment was tried, 

 the hive was examined : the larvae had perished, 

 and the jelly that surrounded them on their in- 

 troduction into the hive had disappeared. The 

 same bees were then supplied with a fresh brood, 

 together with some comb containing pollen : very 

 different indeed was their behaviour with this 

 outfit ; they eagerly seized the pollen and con- 

 veyed it to the young ; order and prosperity were 

 re-established in the colony ; the larvae underwent 

 the usual transformations ; royal cells were com- 

 pleted and closed with wax, and the bees showed 

 no desire to quit their habitation. These expe- 

 riments afford indisputable evidence of the origin 

 of wax and the destination of pollen. 



Though the wax of honey and brood-comb 

 be an original secretion from the body of the bee, 

 wax is also considered by some as a vegetable 

 substance existing abundantly in nature. Ac- 

 cording to PROUST, it forms the silvery down on 

 the leaves, flowers and fruit of many plants, and 

 resides likewise in the feculae of others. DR. 

 DARWIN, in his Phytologia, supposes that wax is 

 secreted to glaze over the fecundating dust of the 

 anthers, and prevent its premature explosion 

 from excessive moisture : to an unseasonable 

 dispersion of anther-dust he ascribes the failure 



