140 INSECT ARTIZANS AND THEIR WORK 



done, whilst her solitary relatives, equally indus- 

 trious, no less solicitous for the interests of an 

 unseen progeny and the continuance of the race, 

 have been utterly ignored save by a handful of 

 naturalists. But for this discovery man would 

 never have found the bee worth eulogizing or rob- 

 bing — and the eulogies have been directed mainly 

 to her habit of storing up honey which man could 

 appropriate to his own use. The discovery of 

 the secret of wax-production and the acquisition 

 of the knowledge of its ductibility and application 

 to the use of the community have made all the 

 difference to the Honey Bee, and — inter alia — 

 have brought her completely under the subjection 

 of man. 



Wax is a costly substance to produce, from 

 sixteen to twenty pounds of honey being consumed 

 to make one pound of wax. It is made available 

 for use by its secretion by glands on the surface of 

 the rings on the under side of the hind body. 

 Here it appears as thin scales which are removed 

 by the bee's hind legs and passed to the mouth, 

 where the wax is worked up — possibly with the 

 addition of saliva — into a condition suitable for 

 the use of those who have to build up the comb 

 and model the six-sided cells. But before we look 

 further into the economy of the domesticated 

 Honey Bee {Afis mellifica), let us glance at the 

 wild honey-storing bees. 



In tropical countries there are several species of 

 wild Honey Bees (Melipona) which make their 



