l64 PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. [aNNO 1792. 



the wax, I shall first show it can hardly be what it has been supposed 

 to be. First, I shall observe that the materials, as they are found composing 

 the comb, are not to be found in the same state, as a composition, in any vege- 

 table, where they have been supposed to be gotten. The substance brought in 

 on their legs, which is the farina of the flowers of plants, is in common I 

 believe imagined to be the materials of which the wax is made, for it is called 

 by most the wax: but it is the farina, for it is always of the same colour as the 

 farina of the flower where they are gathering; and indeed we see them gathering 

 it, and we also see them covered almost all over with it, like a dust; yet it has 

 been supposed to be the wax, or that the wax was extracted from it. Reaumur 

 is of this opinion. I made several experiments to see if there was such a quan- 

 tity of oil in it, as would account for the quantity of wax to be formed, and to 

 learn if it was composed of oil. I held it near the candle; it burnt, but did not 

 smell like wax, and had the same smell, when burning, as farina when it was 

 burnt. I observed that this substance was of different colours on different bees, 

 but always of the same colour on both legs of the same bee; whereas new made 

 comb was all of one colour. I observed that it was gathered with more avidity 

 for old hives, where the comb is complete, than for those hives where it is only 

 begun, which we could hardly conceive if it was the materials of wax: also we 

 may observe, that at the very beginning of a hive, the bees seldom bring in any 

 substance on their legs for 2 or 3 days, and after that the farina gatherers begin 

 to increase; for now some cells are formed to hold it as a store, and some eggs 

 are laid, which when hatched will require this substance as food, and which will 

 be ready when the weather is wet. I have also observed, that when the weather 

 has either been so cold, or so wet, in June, as to hinder a young swarm from 

 going abroad, they have yet in that time formed as much new comb, as they did 

 in the same time when the weather was such as allowed them to go abroad. I 

 have seen them bring it in about the latter end of March, and have observed, in 

 glass hives, the bees with the farina on their legs, and have seen them disposing 

 of it as will be described hereafter. 



The wax is formed by the bees themselves; it may be called an external secre- 

 tion of oil, and I have found that it is formed between the scales of the under 

 side of the belly. When I first observed this substance, in my examination of 

 the working bee, I was at a loss to say what it was: I asked myself if it was 

 new scales forming, and whether they cast the old, as the lobster, &c. does ? but 

 it was to be found only between the scales, on the lower side of the belly. On 

 examining the bees through glass hives, while they were climbing up the glass, I 

 could see that most of them had this substance, for it looked as if the lower, or 

 posterior edge of the scale, was double, or that there were double scales; but I 

 perceived it was loose, not attached. Finding that the substance brought in on 



