THE HIVE BEE. 



Bee-bread Mode of collecting honey. 



the two, their powder is altered, digested and 

 concocted into real wax; and is thus ejected by 

 the same passage by which it was swallowed. 

 Every comb, newly made, is white: but it be- 

 comes yellow as it grows old, and almost black 

 when kept too long in the hive. Beside the wax 

 thus digested, there is a large portion of the pow- 

 der kneaded up for food in every hive, and kept 

 in separate cells, for winter provision: this is 

 called bee-bread, and contributes to the health 

 and strength of the animal during winter. 



The propolis, and the materials for making 

 wax, are not the only substances that these in- 

 dustrious animals have to collect. As, besides 

 the whole winter, there are many days in summer 

 in which the bees are prevented by the weather 

 from going abroad in quest of provisions, they 

 are, therefore, under the necessity of collecting 

 and amassing in cells destined for that purpose 

 large quantities of honey. This they extract by 

 means of their trunk, as before observed, from 

 the nectariferous glands of flowers. After col- 

 lecting a few small drops of honey with this, the 

 animal carries them to its mouth, and swallows 

 them. From the gullet they pass into the first 

 stomach, which is more or less swelled in propor- 

 tion to the quantity of honey it contains. When 

 empty, it has the appearance of a fine white 

 thread: but, when filled with honey, it assumes 

 the figure of an oblong bladder, the membrane 

 of which is so thin and transparent that it allows 



