302 APPENDIX. 



found that these thick laminae, which under the micro- 

 scope exhibited several lamellae, had a sloping surface 

 downwards near the head, and upwards in the vicinity of 

 the tail. The first waxen lamina, therefore, must have 

 been pushed downwards by the second, because, where 

 the abdominal scales are attached to the skin, there is no 

 space for two laminae, the second by the third, and thus 

 the inclined surfaces on the sides of the thick laminae had 

 been produced. I saw distinctly from this, that the first- 

 formed laminae are detached by those which follow. The 

 sugar had been converted into wax by the bees, but it 

 would seem that there was some imperfection in the pro- 

 cess, as the laminae did not fall off, but adhered to the 

 succeeding ones. 



In order to produce wax in the manner described, the 

 bees require no pollen, but only honey. I have placed, 

 even in October, bees in an empty hive, and fed them 

 with honey ; they soon formed comb, although the wea- 

 ther was such that they could not leave the hive. I can- 

 not, therefore, believe that pollen furnishes food for the 

 bees, but I think they only swallow it in order, by mixing 

 it with honey and water, to prepare the liquid food for the 

 grubs. Besides, bees often starve in April, when their 

 stock of honey is consumed, and when they can obtain in 

 the fields abundance of pollen, but no honey. When 

 pressed by hunger they tear the nymphae out of the cells, 

 and gnaw them in order to support life by the sweet 

 juice which they contain. But, if in this condition they are 

 not artificially fed, or if the fields do not soon yield their 

 proper food, they die in the course of a few days. Now, 

 if the pollen were really nourishment for bees, they ought 

 to be able to support life on it, mixed with water. 



Bees never build honeycomb unless they have a queen, 

 or are provided with young out of which they can educate 



