CHAPTER VIII. 



WAX. 



Origin Production Chemical Constitution Comb Building De- 

 tailed Description Amount of Wax in Hives Commercial Value 

 Properties. 



IT was long thought that wax was a product 

 derived, like honey, immediately from flowers. Not 

 only did popular ignorance suppose that the pellets 

 of pollen carried on the thighs of the worker-bees 



FIG. io. A WORKER BEE, SHOWING THE SCALES OF WAX. 



consisted of this substance , but even some authors 

 on apiculture fell into the same error. It is now 

 ascertained with certainty that wax is a sort of 

 animal fat, elaborated from honey by certain internal 

 organs of the bee. It exudes in a liquid form from 



