A P P E N D I X. A N A L Y T I C A L EVIDENCE. 91 



When pressed by hunger they tear the nymphae out of the cells, and gnaw them in ordei 

 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 a queen. But if bees be shut up in a hive without a queen, 

 and fed with honey, we can perceive in forty-eight hours that they have laminae of wax 

 on their scales, and that some have even separated. The building of cells is therefoi e 

 voluntary, and dependent on certain conditions, but the oozing out of wax is involuntary. 



One might suppose that a large proportion of these laminae must be lost, since the 

 bees may allow them to fall off, out of the hive as well as in it; but the Creator has 

 wisely provided against such a loss. If we give to bees engaged in building cells honey 

 in a flat dish, and cover the dish with perforated paper, that the bees may not be en- 

 tangled in the honey, we^hall find, after a day, that the honey has disappeared, and that 

 a iarge number of laminae are lying on the paper. It would appear as if the bees, which 

 nave carried off the honey, had let fall the scales ; but it is not so. For, if above the 

 paper we lay two small rods, and on these a board, overhanging the dish on every side, 

 so that the bees can creep under the board and obtain the honey, we shall find next day 

 ine honey gone, but no laminae on the paper ; while laminae will be found in abundance 

 on me board above. The bees, therefore, which go for and bring the honey, do not let 

 fall the lamina? of wax, but only those bees which remain hanging to the top of the hive. 

 Repeated experiments of this kind have convinced me that the bees, as soon as their 

 laminae of wax are mature, return to the hive and remain at rest, just as caterpillars do, 

 when about to change. In a swarm that is actively employed in building we may see 

 thousands of bees hanging idly at the top of the hive. These are all bees whose laminse 

 of wax are about to separate. When they have fallen off, the activity of the bee revives, 

 and its place is occupied for the same purpose by another. 



^From page 28 of the same work.) In order to ascertain how much honey bees re- 

 quire to form wax, and how often, in a swarm engaged in building, the laminae attain 

 maturity and fall off, I made the following experiment, which appears to me not unin- 

 teiesting. 



On the 29tn of August, 1841, at a time when the bees could obtain in this district no 

 farther supply of honey from the fields, I emptied a small hive, placed the bees in a 

 small wooden hive, having first selected the queen bee, and shut her up in a box, fur- 

 nished with wires, which I placed in the only door of the hive, so that no embryoes could 

 enter the cells. I then placed the hive in a window, that I might be able to watch it. 



At 6 P. M. I gave the bees 6 oz. of honey run from the closed cells, which had thus 

 the exact consistence of freshly made honey. This had disappeared next morning. In 

 the evening of the 30th I gave the bees 6 oz. more, which, in like manner, was removed 

 by the next morning ; but already some laminae of wax were seen lying on the paper 

 with which the honey was covered. On the 31st August and the 1st September the bees 

 had in the evening 10 oz., and on the 3d of September in the evening 7 oz.; in all, there- 

 fore, 1 Ib. 13 oz. of honey, which had run cold out of cells which the bees had already 

 closed. On the 5th of September I stupified the bees, by means of puff-^all and counted 

 them. Their number was 2,765, and they weighed 10 oz. I next weighed the hive, 

 the combs of which were well filled with honey, but the cells not yet closed; noted the 

 weight, and then allowed the honey to be carried off by a strong swarm of bees. This 

 was completely effected in a few Hours. I now weighed it a second time, and found 

 it 12 oz. lighter; consequently the bees still had in the hive 12 oz. of the 29 oz. of honey 

 given to them. I next extracted the combs, and found that their weight was f of an 

 ounce. I then placed the bees in another box, provided with empty combs, and fed them 

 with the same honey as before. In the first few days they lost daily rather more than 1 

 oz. in weight, and afterwards half an ounce daily, which was owing to the circumstance, 

 that from the digestion of so much honey, their intestinal canal was loaded with excre- 

 ments; for 1,170 bees, in autumn, when they have been but a short time confined to the 

 hive, weigh 4 oz. ; consequently 2,765 bees should weigh 9 oz. But they actually weighed 

 10 oz., and therefore had within them 1 oz. of excrement, for their honey bladders were 

 empty. During the night the weight of the box did not diminish at all, because the 

 small quantity of honev the bees had deposited in the cells, having already the proper 

 consistence, could not lose weight by evaporation, and because the bees could not then 

 get rid of their excrements. For this reason, the loss of weight occurred always during 

 the day. 



If, then, the bees, in seven days, required 3 oz. of honey to support and nourish their 

 bodies, they must have consumed 13 oz. of honey in forming f of an ounce of wax; 

 and consequently, to form 1 Ib. of wax, 20 Ibs. of honey are required. This is the reason 

 why the strongest swarms in the best honey seasons, when other hives, that have no 

 occasion to build, often gain in one day 3 or 4 Ibs. in weight, hardly become heavier, 

 although their activity is boundless. All that they gain is expended in making wax 



